Perfection

There's an oft quoted scripture that says "be ye therefore perfect." Truth to be told, this scripture seems to divide people in two camps: those who take that literally and those who ignore its existence. Some people freak out, thinking that because they aren't perfect this instant they're sentenced to eternal doom. Others sweep it under the rug with a "it must be figurative" statement and carry on with their lives. I feel the truth lies between the two. We're not expected to be perfect, but we are expected to consistently try to improve. And that's where my challenge lies. Too often I get complacent and kind of float on in life (which may be what God's trying to eradicate through the yearly trials). Which makes this little incident a surprise.

My good friend Carly is doing a 30 day blogging challenge. Obviously the goal is to increase the frequency of blogging, giving daily prompts that range from a minute or two to more lengthy ideas. I was looking at the prompts and realized I blog far less than I used to. I also realized that may of these prompts would not work from a male perspective (no, I do not have anything in my makeup bag). As I was searching the internet I found a website called the art of manliness, with a 30 day challenge of its own: 30 days to becoming a better man. With the website title I was expecting a list with much more of a misogynistic approach, but was pleasantly surprised by what I found. The list includes things like defining your core values, cultivating gratitude, write a letter to your father, make a meal, and, naturally, get a straight razor shave.

The list is intensely interesting to me, and whether or not I will actually take the plunge and do an activity a day it did get me thinking of how to improve. Most of the time, when we think of improving ourselves, there are a few things that come to the mind of any given person. These will undoubtedly be the areas they perceive they have the most room to improve. Following this thought, they'll try to tackle their Goliaths and will almost certainly fail. There's a reason that they're having trouble with it, and it's very difficult to change a part of you at the snap of a finger. Very few people have that willpower. We eventually give up after a failed attempt or two, and fall back into our old patterns. My challenge is to find ways to ease into it. There are small ways that we can improve, and as we take these steps the bigger obstacles will appear smaller and more manageable. When thinking of improving, we generally don't think of memorizing a poem (or scripture!) or writing a love letter. But there are things inherent in many activities that will slowly shape us into the type of person we want to be. While the going may be slower, it's no race. As long as we're progressing, we're not staying still and vice versa. So think about it!

Sorry this sounds preachy. It's not my intention. I was just musing over in my head and realized that it may help somebody else as well. I hope it does!