It is good, Pt. II

Genesis 1:1-5 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

One of my favorite sayings is "perfect is the enemy of the good."

It's a saying that I often have to remind myself of when perfectionism and control issues overwhelm me.  The more perfect I try to be, the less good I feel and the less good the result I am going for.

Perhaps you've heard the story of how the weavers of Persian rugs always include an intentional flaw in each carpet.  The feeling is that only God alone is perfect and so mistakes or flaws are included on purpose to demonstrate that.

Here in Genesis, God didn't see that the light was perfect.  

God saw that the light was good.

Are we so often striving for perfection that we are missing the good right under our noses?

Four years ago, British author, Neil Gaiman posted this on his blog.  It has since gone viral. I discovered it this year myself and think it gives great clarity to the problem of perfection:

"I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life. 

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever."

Maybe it seems a stretch to say that mistakes are good.  But I'm going to say it anyway.  Mistakes are good.  Mistakes are how we learn and how we grow.  Mistakes are how we change and experience life.

God said the light was good.

May you find good today and thrive in it!

Good and gracious God, you alone are perfect.  Remind us and help us not to miss the good you give us by trying to find some kind of unnatural perfection that doesn't exist.  Amen.