Striving for... something

In life I believe we are called to be in tune with the present moment. We are called to strive for our best in all endeavors, as imperfect as our ‘best’ may be. I do so when I strap on my guitar, when I put pen to paper, and when my feet hit the pavement for a run at Canal Park.

I’m admittedly a bit of a perfectionist. When I find something I care about, I pursue it almost to a fault (except guitar… that’s paid off). At times I think I’ll be remembered as a modern-day Icarus, someone who pushed the limits of his abilities, despite knowing the consequences, until plunging from the sky. I've taken my share of falls thus far.

I long for greatness, however broken and lacking my ‘best’ efforts may be. No one is perfect. If we were we’d have no need for God. Still, I believe we are all made in the image of God. We may be broken and fragile, but we all have our moments of greatness, perhaps even moments of perfection.

In the grand scheme of things we are not called to seek some infallible existence (note to self). If we do we’ll languish in a life of disappointment. Perhaps I’ve read too much Buddhist philosophy, but I believe more and more that being in-tune with the present moment is of primary importance to one’s happiness.

Greatness is to be measured not by our output, but our in-put: what we give of ourselves and how it changes who we are and, perhaps more importantly, how it changes the world around us.

We are called to be awe-full, to be filled with awe by the moments in which our feeble efforts and perfection go dancing. It is in these uncommon instances where we fully taste the splendor of life and see the face of God, the God who calls us to be in-tune with every moment, living life to the full for the uplift of this maddening world we live in.