Dear Younger Me (Bot9 #165)

By Tom Walters As a kid I heard my dad say many times "practice makes perfect." Later I remember one of my coaches saying that "perfect practice makes perfect performance,” and for a long time that made a lot of sense to me. These days, mental skills have come to the forefront of sport and are being taught and coached to enhance performance. As a mental game coach for the past two seasons, I now subscribe to the idea that "perfect is the enemy of good." Think about that for a minute. “Perfect is the enemy of good” speaks to baseball players and perfectionists…and the unfortunate who are both! “Perfect is the enemy of good” identifies that perfectionism can be crippling. The emphasis should be to practice well in order to play well.

There's a magnificent song on Christian radio these days By MercyMe called "Dear Younger Me."  The tune is catchy and engaging, but the lyrics are deep and introspective. It's a song about looking back on one's life with perspective. The song is about the process of coming to grace and coming into our God given gifts. It's a song about the process and about practice and the importance of practice in the process. If you listen and look at your own life, it's a song about the perspective of "I get to..." versus "I've got to..." , it's a song that gives consideration of the differing perspectives of coach and player, father and son, of God and disciple. It is a song about life and loving God.   Take a listen, go deep and ask yourself what you'd say to yourself in a letter to “Dear Younger Me.”

https://youtu.be/-l70C3ePyIQ

Romans 12:3-8 says this:

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 

Combine this teaching from Paul's letter to the Romans with Christ's teaching in Matthew 25:14-30, "The Parable of the Talents." Taking a humble view of one's self while dedicating one's gifts, no matter how glamorous or paltry in the eyes of the world, do good in this world and dump the idea of perfection.

Dear Younger Me, learn and accept that “Perfect is the enemy of good” earlier in life. Accept that the Heavenly Father has entrusted you with certain gifts, talents, and measures of faith. Grow in those today, not by looking around at others, but by allowing myself to be good enough in your eyes.