Perfect

I think we all feel the weight of perfection bearing down on us constantly. Our jobs or our friends demand us to be flawless, therefore we must feel that we have to be everything to everyone, we feel we always must be a different flavor of ice-cream to whoever we meet. This line of thinking can make anyone go insane. I personally have had the task of perfection during this week of my winter break; perfection is not only desired but expected. I took a job this week subbing for someone’s paper route. Within this line of work you are required to work every day of the week from 2am - 5am. You make very good money but the strain on your car and your mentally acuity can be enormous. Within this line of work you are expected to deliver every one of your papers to every single person on your route, on time. You strive to hit every single house on your list (I almost feel like Santa Claus, just to romanticize it a lil for ya) which should not be a hard task to accomplish, but then humanity comes and mucks everything up for you. When you miss a house you get a complaint and if you get a large amount of complaints, well then you have to find a new line of work. It is something I had been striving for on this route - perfection. I have fallen short already and it happened so fast that I was not even aware of it until later (the next morning). For me I have no other choice then to let these expectations rule my life at the moment. The expectation of perfection, this standard that the Indianapolis Star has set governs my very being at this point. I hope that you do not have to live up to standards like this within every area of your life. I think we tend to allow ourselves to take on so many expectations that we eventually collapse. Eventually something will come along and take us down; it will knock us out of our quasi perfect state. Much like my beloved Indianapolis Colts. Perfect 13-0 record until they met the San Diego (always goes down smooth) Chargers, they were out matched, out willed, out played in this game, the team that played appeared to be only a shell of the team I had seen rise to the occasion week in and week out to keep their perfect streak alive. While it broke my heart I some how felt relief within the loss. I think the more "perfect" things we have around us the higher we hold ourselves to that standard of whatever "perfect" may be for each of us. To have a team that was so close to achieving the perfect regular season and then fall short reminds us, I believe that it is ok for us to fall short, we are human. We can not be everything to everyone we can only be one flavor and we should be alright with that. What is funny is that since we have this impossibility of perfection within our world that is merely on our own merits. Perfection can never be accomplished when it is based upon our own glorification that will happen. Nothing in this world is perfect. The definition of perfect should have a picture of God under it. Of everything we observe in our world, we should know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the one atoning instance of perfection can only come when we put aside our own personal glory and look to glorify the only one who can truly be perfect. This is something I have been working to understand this year within my own life. True success, true perfection only truly comes when we seek the Glory of God and look for His blessing up on the mission we are about to undertake. It is when we put for the Glory of God within our lives that we then truly become the universal flavor to all people. We can transcend the insanity of living a life that constantly shifts to please man. My paper route has been a task of perfection I have attempted to accomplish on my own. So far this week I have had two complaints (I would attest that neither of them are my fault) so much for my idea of doing the perfect job this week - with what I have been exploring in the realm of God's Glory, should I truly be so surprised.

Cj - out