Practically Perfect in Every Way...

Permit me to wax religious for a moment.  Sunday School was good today.  I say this because nestled amidst the all too frequent scripture readathons (most often utilized by underprepared teachers to fill time)  an interesting verse caught my attention.

In Genesis 17:1 the Lord appears to Abraham (Abram) and presents an interesting greeting: "I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect."  LDS culture makes a big deal of this and other similar remarks elsewhere in scripture.  Part of the LDS belief that Godhood is obtainable by even the seemingly lowliest of individuals seems to neccessitate a particularly strong weight to such injunctions.  If we are truly to become like God we too must become perfect.

Until recently I've regarded this scripture as something akin to the parental commandment to "keep thy room clean", a nice thought but a practical impossibility.  A mother admonishes one to clean over and again, not because she actually expects to one day wake up and find the room clean but because she wants to avoid one corner of her house becoming a breeding ground for new and particularly dangerous strains of bacteria.  Sure the room may not be immaculate but the likelihood of a Monsters Inc.-like descent on the house by the CDC is relatively small; mission accomplished.  Similarly, thought I, God can't expect us to completely remove any trace of sin or imperfection from our lives.  Hopefully, however, in reaching for perfection and falling short we avoid the really serious pitfalls in life (drugs, pornography, 80's fashion and hairstyles, etc.). 

Midway through reading Geoff Colvin's Talent is Overrated I'm no longer so certain of my interpretation.  Colvin argues, quite persuasively, that excellence on the level of a Davinci or of a Michael Jordan is not simply an innate characteristic.  Instead, excellence is found through a combination of what he terms "deliberate practice" and hard work.  Most people who appear "above average" in a given area have simply spent more time and sought better guidance (seeking and receiving near constant constructive feedback is crucial) than the average Joe Schmoe.  Unfortunately too many of us see high performing individuals, dimiss their achievements as impossible for us "average folk" and contentedly coalesce back into the couch and warm television glow from whence we came.

Colvin posits that time, desire, and smart work (my term) are the only major barriers between us and some degree of excellence in any given field.  While certain limiting factors do creep in when discussing "best of class" type performances, excellence is achieveable by everyone.

LDS church-goers are notorious for setting high personal standards and asking for a double-helping of guilt when their performance falls short.  "If God wants perfection and I'm not perfect, I must be doing something wrong" seems to be a prevalent personal mantra and a form of spiritual self-flaggelation.    In light of Colvin's book I'd like to suggest what is hopefully a more helpful scriptural interpretation and outlook on life:

Approach imperfections with the knowledge that overcoming them is absolutely necessary but will require a good amount of time and effort.  God promises that he will make our weaknesses into strengths but he's careful not to set a specific time line; chances are it's not happening today, tomorrow, or even next week but it will happen.  Also, realize that God in his omniscience has imposed an incredibly limited timeframe (one lifetime) for us to grow and develop.  God is more than willing to allow us the rest of eternity to iron out personal wrinkles, what he's most interested in is our development of attitudes and habits which allow us to make those first faltering steps down the road to perfection.  Work hard, work smart, and don't sweat the small stuff.

All of this is a long convoluted way of explaining to my wife why I can't seem to squeeze the toothpaste from the right end and probably will never in this lifetime remember to stop leaving fruit snack wrappers throughout the house...

Questions, comments, concerns?

Please consider buying Goldline(tm) brand Gold

Angela dragged me to a "cultural event" this evening.  Although I approached the event with my usual chipper demeanor  (somewhere between a cat hissing at a dog and a baby crying), we just got back from Cirque de Chine over at BYU, and I must say it was absolutely ridiculous.

Two words come to mind after such a viewing: inexplicable.  In the amount of time it's taken you to decipher that inexplicable is not, in fact, two words but one, a four foot Chinese girl has already done a double back flip to land on top of a pyramid consisting of twenty of her four foot Chinese girl counterparts.  Meanwhile back at the ranch two of her brethren have been cartwheeling while balancing two stories worth of plates on their respective noses with a straw.  Did I mention this is all taking place on the back of another four foot Chinese girl riding a unicycle on a tight-wire suspended fifteen feet in the air?

I may or may not have descended ever so slightly into hyperbole towards the end there but I think my point is left elucidated. In the words of  Flavor Flav, a personal hero of mine, it was "off the hook".  Hours spent with Glen Beck have taught me to fear these performers; they and their government are methodically taking over our country one treasury bill at a time.  That being said, if village life back in the Han dynasty was really as cool as the Cirque seemed to indicate (apparently that was their inspiration) I say bring on the annexation.

Life in the Mormon Bubble may be slightly anti-climactic at times but it's hard to beat cheap weekly events of this caliber.  Good call Loves.