My life isn’t great. I cringe even as I write those words, but let me finish the thought. My life isn’t great, but it’s really, really good. One of the greatest enemies to good is great, and I think it’s doing a lot of damage in our lives.
A Book I’m Reading
I’m reading and loving When Less Becomes More by Emily Ley and loving it. I love all her books! I’ve been reading it as a part of my morning time routine each morning. The chapter I read this week, entitled Chasing, was so good and really got me thinking about the fact that we chase great instead of good, and that is entirely the problem.
“I keep coming back to good. I want more good, less great. Sometimes good is beautiful…and great can be a little exhausting. Sometimes good feels like a job well done…and great feels like a job never done. Sometimes good is full bellies and happy smiles around a table of paper plates and sandwiches…and great is the complicated monster of a “perfect” meal that stole our joy before we even sat down to eat it. Sometime good is a staycation full of slow memories…and great is that over planned vacation that wasn’t relaxing or fun.”
~Emily Ley
Being Good
Nobody wants to just be good; we want to be great. Nobody wants to do a good job; we want to do an amazing job. But there is so much pressure behind being great.
- making a great meal
- having a great home
- being great at your job
- being a great mom
- being great at homemaking
- being a great neighbor
There is so much pressure behind each one of those. What if we simply replaced great with good?
- making a good meal
- having a good home
- being good at your job
- being a good mom
- being good at homemaking
- being a good neighbor
Maybe you don’t make three-course meals every night, but you made a good dinner last night for your family. You may not be a hotshot employee, but you show up on time and work hard. You’re not supermom. You let your kids drink juice and eat sugary cereal sometimes and even allow them screen time. Gasp! But you’re a good mom who loves your kids and prays for them, and you’re doing the best you can to raise them. You may not be Martha Stewart, but you do your best to keep your house picked up and make it a haven for your family.
Our Home
Let me use our home for illustration. Our home is 1100-square-feet and is connected to our neighbor’s home. It has street parking only, and there’s rarely room on the street for visitors to park. It’s old and needs constant fixing and updating. Yet, it’s a good home. It’s the home that we could afford when the bottom dropped out for us financially. This is the house that we come home to after a long day. It’s the home we’re raising our children in. It houses the dining table that has hosted many people around it, not for amazing meals…but for good meals together. Those people have been friends, church family, neighbors, and even strangers. It’s a really, really good home.
Missing the Good all Around Us
If we are constantly striving for and looking for greatness, we will miss the good all around us.
- Your children might not be great, but they are good.
- Your husband may not be great (aka–perfect) at times, but he’s good to you.
- Your church isn’t great, but it’s really good.
- Your finances may not be great, but they’re good. There’s food on the table, and for today, that’s enough.
Whatever is in your life, I challenge you to see it as good. Stop striving for more and simply enjoy the good that God has given you, that’s all around you. If we’re not careful, these indicting words will be said about us.
Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.
Ecclesiastes 1:8 NLT
Encouragement from Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes has so much to say on this topic. It’s one of my favorite books in the Bible. Here’s a few verses to think about:
Then I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
Ecclesiastes 4:4 NLT
Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
Ecclesiastes 6:9 NLT
Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past.
Ecclesiastes 5:18-20
I challenge you today to look around you and find the good things in your life and thank God for them and let go of the quest for great.
More Encouragement
For more on this topic, check out my post, Finding the Good Happening in Front of Our Eyes.
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