Perfection -- Is it in you?

This is one of my off days from the marathon training schedule. On my long runs I get a lot of time to think about a variety of topics and ideas. My goal with this blog is to write down some of the inner ramblings that occur while I'm pounding the pavement. Some you may get, a few may make you wonder if I've lost my mind, and I'm hoping a couple will actually bring meaningful insight to your day.

I think about perfection a lot. Now, I'll qualify that by stating that in no way do I think I'm perfect or that true perfection is even attainable; however, I do think it should be everyone's goal to strive towards that end. It seems that using the term perfect, or the goal of its attainment, has become a dirty word in today's society of "good enough." To even insinuate perfection is somehow a show of arrogance or a "holier than thou" attitude that is shunned. Too often we use the fact that we will never be perfect as an excuse to not even attempt to reach that goal, and instead, too often, we do just enough to get by. Are we not wasting the greatest experiences of our lives, our talents, our hopes, and our dreams by not chasing this ideal of perfection that lies within us all?

Perfection has been defined many ways, and it is the definition "without flaw" that I think too many people get hung up on and use as their excuse to quit, or to never start down that path. By our very nature we are flaw filled, so by this definition of perfection we have no hope. However, there is more to the ideal of perfection. These are the ideas of being whole, complete, an example of excellence, or the attainment of a purpose. All are commonly used definitions of perfection, and all are goals that we should be striving for as humans. Unfortunately we have traded in our human spirit of pushing beyond, of inner and outer discovery, our quest for something better... We have traded all of these for the goal of comfort. What kind of goal is that? Has the winning argument become, "I can't be perfect so why even try?"

The only way we'll ever advance, dare I say become whole and complete, is to challenge ourselves to push towards our own inner perfection. How will you ever know what you are made of if you never push yourself beyond your limits? How will you know what lies beyond if you never break your mind and body down completely, to the point of exhaustion, to the point of a lack of understanding, in order to discover what lies at your core? How will you ever discover your hidden potential if you never challenge yourself beyond the comfortable and the known? If you never push towards the limits, if you never find your boundaries, how will you ever know where they are or if they exist? How will you ever know if you neared your best, your perfectness, if you never laid it all on the line?

Much of the problem is that we look toward some ultimate example of perfection as though it were one goal. Truly I feel that each of us contains our own perfection and that within us all is unique perfection, not some universal standard we all should strive to achieve. We are given the gifts of our minds and bodies, and it is wholly and completely using these gifts, to attain the purpose of completing these gifts, that is the path towards perfection. We see examples of other people's degrees of perfection every day. It is this higher level on the path to perfection they exhibit that attracts us to the people we surround ourselves with: our spouses, our friends, co-workers, and others in our lives. All of us are on this path towards perfection, we all just have varying degrees of success in tapping into our own perfection in the many facets of our lives. Certainly none of us will ever obtain true perfection, but does that mean we shouldn't strive towards fully realizing our potential?

In today's society we no longer journey; we no longer follow a path. Instead we are consumed with instant gratification and results. None of your greatest life experiences, those events that shaped who you are, came without some type of struggle or journey. However, instead of embracing those struggles, those challenges, those journeys, we look for comfort and insulation from anything that may bring us pain, suffering, discomfort and ultimately growth. How can we ever experience the highest of highs without feeling the lows? It is these walls that must be broken down, these barriers pushed through, in order for us to continue to grow, to find out who we are, both mentally and physically, on our path to discovering our perfection. It is a very weak argument to state that since we can't attain perfection there is no reason to even attempt it.

There are times that this lack of attainment will result in frustration and will be disheartening, but the path of life is filled with frustrations and heartbreak. It is impossible to experience success without knowing failure. One cannot feel true love without suffering true hurt, and one cannot appreciate accomplishment without the struggle of the journey. My pure love for others in my life has created great pain when the love wasn't mutual, but the joy that is experienced when that love is returned is worth every ounce of pain that is incurred along the way. Much as with my endurance endeavors, the pain and suffering never holds a candle to the overwhelming sense of personal accomplishment. Life could be a lot more even-keeled without the highs and lows, but it is a life that is never truly lived. Or, put in simplistic terms normal is boring.

There is a need for a bit of a disclaimer here, and with it out of the way I hope this discussion can continue. Obviously all of our thoughts, beliefs and actions are shaped by something. Since this blog is in its infancy I thought it may be necessary to give insight into what shapes some of the ramblings that will occur on this site. I'm a believer, how I live my life is guided by the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ. At several points in my life I have felt a call to the ministry but have never taken that leap. What I don't want is for this fact to instantly close the minds of those reading this blog or for you to go no further. We are too quick to categorize and pigeon-hole people. For many people there are two groups of Christians: those that attend church but don't talk about it openly and the Bible-thumping crowd. I would like to think most of us fall somewhere in between. Likewise, I don't believe the other group's pigeon hole is that of all non-believers. I think all of us as humans are on a spiritual path, we are all just at different places. No matter your beliefs, our mine, we are in this life together, and as such are tied together along this path regardless of our differing beliefs, or lack thereof. I readily welcome discussion from all angles, but don't tolerate closed-mindedness and sweeping generalizations. I want to look at the idea of perfection a bit deeper, and I hope it's at this turn that I don't loose some of my audience.

In several places throughout the Bible the ideal of perfection is discussed. In Matthew 5:48 Jesus instructs, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." If it was just that simple, and we used the "without flaw" definition of perfect, then we really wouldn't need the rest of the Good Book with instructions on how to live, and we wouldn't have a need for the Easter holiday, because we all would just be perfect. Clearly we are not without flaw, however, we all have the ability to be complete, to be whole and to attain our purpose. It is this definition, this goal of perfection, that we all should be striving to attain.

I would go so far as to say that with anything worth doing in our lives we should be striving to do it to the best of our ability. Too often I think we find ourselves going through the motions, doing enough to just get by or by just doing what we can do. Is that any way to live? Have we admitted defeat and the consolation prize of the easy road? When we stop growing as people, when we stop challenging ourselves to become better, more perfect creations, we have essentially admitted defeat and are counting our days to the end of our sentence. By constantly striving for the unattainable goal of perfection, by continuing to grow, our journey never ends and only gets better with each day and every moment we embrace.

Now I would be a fool to think we could keep this "all in, all the time" attitude up, and anyone who knows me will attest that I can sometimes get moody, dark, negative and quite crass. In our house my wife has even named the condition as "Life on the Joe Coaster." However, I would like to think that my general prevailing attitude is one of being my best and serving others to my fullest. This striving for perfection leads to restlessness and a lack of contentment that can certainly be negatives when taken to the extremes. On the other end of the spectrum, the highs are like no other and the depth of beauty and joy you can experience is beyond that which you could ever imagine.

It is our duty as human beings to strive towards perfection. Every day we should be doing our God-given best at our jobs, as fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, as friends and as fellow human beings. To do anything less is a dis-service to the amazing gifts we have been given in the form of the talents we possess and the gifts of the wonderful people we all have in our lives.

It my sound cliche, but life is a journey that you can either experience to the fullest or sit back and allow it to pass you by. Unfortunately in our instant access society this is one game without a pause, reset or start over button. We get one chance on this ride and we have the choice of swinging into the saddle or staying in bed....as for me, well, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead.