“It might not be perfect, but it’s better than it was”

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8

I have often been called an optimist, sometimes even an “eternal optimist”. I believe that most clouds have a silver lining. My cup is nearly always half full. I like to look on the bright side. We all know someone who is a pessimist to a varying degree. For them, every cloud may look like a tornado on the verge of destruction. Their cup may be drained and cracked. And they may never have even heard of the bright side. 

Several years ago I worked with a nurse who used to say, “it might not be perfect, but it’s better than it was”. She used this phrase for an amazingly wide variety of situations. Patients who had surgery and didn’t get 100% recovery, but had improvement. Women who left abusive situations and struggled to make ends meet as single parents. Changes to a workflow or process that didn’t fix ALL the staff complaints but saved time for the end user. 

With our work and life schedules the last few years I have used this phrase to give myself some grace. Dusting the piano. Cleaning out closets. Vacuuming the carpet in the boat every time we take it out. Decorating for the holidays. Weeding the flower bed. The chores and tasks that take time, and that might matter more to the individual doing the work than they do to those experiencing it. Using the phrase “it might not be perfect, but it’s better than it was” has helped with these tasks. Did I get the noxious weeds out of the flower bed but not every single dead leaf? Did I vacuum just the high traffic spots in the boat instead of the whole thing? Did I pull out a piece of damaged clothing for recycling instead of hanging it up when I did the laundry? All of these qualify as “better than it was”. All of these were times where I took action to make it better and gave myself grace from perfection.

Prayer: Loving God, there are so many times when things are better but not perfect. Help us to appreciate the victories. If we spend our lives waiting for perfection or only recognizing those infrequent moments when we achieve it, we will be greatly disappointed. Thank you for giving us the grace to be human. Amen. 

Christi Moock