"There are different ways to look at life, and two of these are captured in a couple of seemingly contradictory sayings. The more famous aphorism is this one: 'The perfect is the enemy of the good,' but you'll also hear its converse: 'The good is the enemy of the best.' The second expression cautions that we sometimes settle for something that is merely good enough when we should be aiming higher; excellence is certainly something for which to strive.
"In striving for the perfect thing, we can miss the good. We live in a fallen world, less than perfect. Likewise, you and I are incomplete, unfinished, imperfect. Yet this does not mean that we lack anything good at all or that this imperfect world has nothing to offer.
"Being more than halfway through my expected lifespan, I have moved from the perfectionist world of the second saying to the contented world of the first, though each has its place. I have come to understand that contentedness is a very great gift and that true perfection only exists in Heaven."
In a recent commentary, Monsignor Charles Pope (pastor of Holy Comforter-Saint Cyprian Parish, Washington, DC) reflected on how there is something freeing and calming about being able to accept the good, the imperfect, and be content with it. and how sometimes "we don't recognize or appreciate the good until we accept that the best, the perfect, will have to wait."
To access Msgr. Pope's complete post, please visit:
Community in Mission: On Imperfection, As Seen in an Animation (18 OCT 19)
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