Anything worth doing is worth doing well

"I did my best but I guess my best wasn’t good enough." These words have been spoken many times by countless people.

The rich voice of soul singer James Ingram repeats these words in the song "Just Once" that he recorded in 1981. It was his first recording, and it reached number seventeen on the pop charts.
The lyrics written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil detail the struggle of someone trying to understand why a relationship kept going sour. The question is asked, “Can’t we figure out what we have been doing wrong?”

Have you ever felt that way?

Whether crafting a sermon or developing a lesson plan; running your daily delivery route or honing your athletic skills; selling a product or performing a delicate surgical procedure; writing a computer program or a school term paper; creating an architectural design or parenting children. There are times when we are not sure that our best is good enough. We have made a good effort but think maybe it could have been more. The results could have been better.
 
There are many explanations for why we are uncomfortable with the outcome of our efforts. Whether it is a relationship or some project that we are working on, often there is the feeling that something more or something different would have produced better results.

An old proverb suggests that all God expects is that we do the best we can with what we have, now. We may try and fail but we must try.

There is no excuse for deliberately doing less than our best. When we do, we can expect the end results to reflect the level of our efforts. Anything worth doing is worth doing well.

When we have used our resources and skills to the best of our ability we can expect good results. I am not suggesting that the results will always be excellent but we should not worry about it. There may be imperfections but our goal is not to be perfect. Our goal is to do our best.

If the cause is consistent with God’s character and purpose, I believe God wants us to succeed. After we have done our best, then we need to turn it over to God. Even when our “best isn’t good enough,” God has the ability to transform it into something special.


--Jamie Jenkins, North GA Ann Conf


God Is Still In Control!




Miss Lladale Carey
Web Content Producer
www.umcgiving.org
lcarey@umcom.org