This month we’ve been doing a lot (A LOT) of painting,
scraping paint, and more painting.
Intermixed in there we get to hang out with all of the wonderful kids, teenagers,
and house mothers who live at the houses were painting but for the most part…we
paint.
It’s a hot and tiring job but we’re happy to do it. Nevertheless it can get
monotonous.
On my third day scraping paint off of one hellish corner (it
would bring even a professional to his knees), I started thinking, This has
got to be good enough. And you
know what, to get the new paint on the walls, it probably was good enough.
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But those words, good enough, struck me. If this was my house, would I want good
enough? If I was working for
myself would I accept good enough?
Would I settle for good enough?
I really don’t think so.
***
I’m learning how easy it would be for me to stop at good
enough on the race. It’s easy to
feel tired, in need of some serious alone time, and just want to get the job
done…no frills, no extra mile.
But then a little boy offers me the most disgusting piece of
fruit I’ve ever tasted and he cracks up as I spit it out almost
immediately. There’s joy all over
his face at his trick.
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Or a girl (who is graciously trying to help me conquer the
worst corner in the world) tells me it’s her birthday tomorrow and asks, would
I come back to celebrate? Her face
telling me she needs to know she’s special.
These moments happen and all of the sudden good enough
doesn’t even seem close to good enough.
In these moments God knocks some sense into me, reminds me that what
these kids deserve is perfection.
While I can’t (and never will) give them perfection, I can give them my
best. I can give hugs after I have
eaten the most terribly awful fruit.
I can scrape paint until I have blisters to make sure these kids have a
house they can be proud of. I can
go back after a tiring day to eat an unidentifiable meat for dinner to celebrate
a young girl’s birthday so she knows she more than special, she’s beloved.
***
The temptation for good enough is more real on the Race than
in any other time of my life. I’m
not being graded. I’m not
receiving performance reviews. I
won’t get a raise or a bonus. No
one will make me give 100% every day but when I don’t, these kids get short changed. I get short changed. I miss out on the fullness of God that
day.
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I’m learning that pushing past good enough is the best thing
I can do on the Race and in life.
The more good enough just isn’t sufficient and the more I give the extra
effort when I want to give up, the more I become the hands and feet of
Jesus. The more I learn that life
really is better when it’s not about me.
Picking up a paintbrush each day isn’t what my ministry is
about. Picking up a paintbrush
each day is just my excuse to be there, just my excuse to spend time with these
women and children.
My ministry isn’t about paint; its about helping to create
a safe and beautiful home.
My ministry isn’t about scraping a wall clean; it’s about
showing up each day more excited to learn Vietnamese so we can communicate
better (and they can laugh at me!).
My ministry is about loving them.
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And in loving them there is no such thing as good
enough. My heart will never be
satisfied with giving them less than my best. I never want to stop short of loving them completely because
they’ve captured my heart in a way I didn’t know was possible in such a short
time.
Pushing past good enough isn’t just for World Racers, I’d
challenge you to find areas in your own life that you can give the extra mile,
where you can love more extravagantly for no other reason than that’s how God
loves us and how He calls us to love others.
