Do Your Best

Excellence doesn't mean a flawless performance

"Do your best!” It was Zane’s turn to wash the dishes. It’s not one of his preferred chores, so, naturally, he tends to do them half-heartedly. Nobody likes to pull out a crusty fork from the drawer. I continued to encourage him, and he smiled at the end, exclaiming, “That went fast, and it was actually kinda fun!” He is only 7, and his dishwashing skills aren’t superb. I know he is going to fail at it a lot until he gains more experience. Then he will be an excellent dishwasher. Excellence comes with experience. He gets experience by just doing it, and doing it poorly. As long as he is doing his best, he will improve. But his best is poor as compared to the way I do dishes. Why do I want my 7-year old to do dishes? Is it because I need his help? Or because I don’t want to do that chore so I pass it off to someone else? No, it’s because he needs to learn diligence and responsibility. He does need to learn to help out around the house, but it is to his benefit. One day he will have his own home and will have to wash up after himself. “Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other officials and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him.” (Daniel 6:3a) I love the book of Daniel. Daniel was an amazing young man. The Bible says he distinguished himself among the other leaders, and was exceptional. He wasn’t corrupt or negligent in his duties. He was trustworthy, humble, and had outstanding wisdom. Those are some qualities I’d like my children to display! The phrase about his excellent spirit, though, is what stands out. I’m always impressed when things are done with excellence. Think about a craftsman who creates something beautiful with exquisite detail. Or a delicious meal that is flavorful and satisfying. It carries a different value when it’s done well rather than slapped together haphazardly at the last minute. God created us with great care and tenderness. Every ligament, every cell, blood vessel, and hair was considered and brought forth with an exceedingly good word. The breath of life breathed into man, as intimately as a kiss, expressed all love and beauty. As a reflection of our creation, we can honor God by putting that same care into all that we do and into everything we create. It’s a form of worship, and the Bible is full of verses to support this idea. As I initiated concentrating on pursuing excellence in every aspect of life as an adult, I began to find myself tensing up. I quoted Colossians 3:23 to myself often. It says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for people.” The more I worked at doing every little thing with all my heart, the more I snapped at others and got stressed out. I felt restricted and anxious. That can’t be right! The Bible also says His yoke is easy and His burden is light. What is that about? You see, I had let my actions breed perfectionism. It became about my performance. I began to adopt a mentality whereby I was trying to please God in an unhealthy way. I started to believe if I failed, He would be angry with me. I wanted other people to think I was amazing. This mindset had me trying to control my image and manipulate what others thought about me. Living that way meant I was insecure, and was always trying to measure up or get praise so I could feel valuable. It is exhausting. That is not what God intended for us when He gave us Scriptures like Ecclesiastes 9:10, which starts out with, “Work hard at whatever you do…” God wants us to abide in Him. He asks us to worship Him in our work because it’s supposed to be coming from a place of rest. What is our idea of excellence versus God’s idea anyway? He looks at us and sees Jesus, His perfected Son. We can trust Him and obediently work at the things He asks of us. Zane can trust me when I ask him to do the dishes. He can trust that I’m not going to berate him because he didn’t do it perfectly. I’ll bring him through scrubbing the pan with the stuck-on lasagna. He can let go of doing it wrong. We can let go of doing things in our life wrong. Our value doesn’t come from how hard we work or our ability to not get things wrong. I won’t love my child any less because he doesn’t always feel happy about washing dishes or because he missed a spot. It’s a noble desire to want to bring glory to God in everything we do. But that doesn’t mean a flawless performance. God calls us to walk by faith. If I’m stuck in perfectionism or fear and concern for whether or not I’m good enough or qualified enough, I’ll never move! He wants us to do OUR best, not to BE THE best. There need not be any comparison or judging ourselves against others. I’m not comparing how Zane does dishes with how Felicity does them. She’s 16 and has more experience and better fine motor skills. I’m still learning to let go of performance mentality to get God to be happy with me. He is teaching me to do things with excellence so I can be operating at my highest potential as per God’s Divine Design! I just start with the next thing, and it will eventually be excellent with God’s grace. He goes behind me and before me. He is already in tomorrow and all His promises are within my reach. I am doing my best out of love and freedom. We can teach our kids to do the same.