Are You Good Enough?

Well, are you good enough? Good enough at your job, your hobbies, your passions? A good enough child, parent, spouse, worker, athlete, musician, artist, writer, dancer, singer, etc?  Nope, probably not. We know we live in a world full of flawed, imperfect people, so why do we expect perfection?

We have expectations for others that are reasonable, but often we tack on unrealistic ones.  I remember asking a leader one time if he could keep the expectations he placed on others. He admitted he could not. We expect others to do what we want, when we want, how we want. At the same time, how many of us are able to do what we want, as fast as we want, as well as we want? Much of the time, we don't keep our expectations for ourselves, but do we show grace to others?

We live in a "work for what you get, get all you can, can all you get, don't give in and do it your way" society. We expect hard work, long hours, blood, sweat and tears. Why? I think it's because we enjoy suffering, but mainly it's to feed the biggest, fattest and ugliest part of ourselves, our ego. The ego want us to be the best and greatest, and we allow it to hold others to the impossible standards. I remember the prayer of the Pharisee "Lord, thank you I am not a sinner like this man." God wasn't impressed, and He's not impressed with you or I either.

It's time to stop expecting the world from the world. In the same way, it's time to stop coming to God on our terms. We often have expectations of God that  He has no interest in meeting. God wants you to love Him, love others and be holy. Happiness, wealth, good health, those are optional. Once we find the true meaning of humility, seek God out of who we really are and who He really is, we will find we are enough. Maybe we will find that those around us too are enough too, and they don't need us setting the bar.