Worth Doing Badly (Pastor Mom Devotion #4)

G. K. Chesterton famously said that anything worth doing is worth doing badly. I thought about this while I was pregnant and I tried to prepare for the fact that soon it would be even more the case than ever that there is not enough time to do everything I want to or to perfect things. I worked to get myself into the habit of "just doing it," whatever "it" was--usually household chores--like deep cleaning the oven--which I did(!), though in a half-assed way (case in point). 

I'm still working on this lesson. The fact I still need improvement is, in part, how I got out of the habit of doing these devotions. When Joshua died, I wanted to write something in his honor, but I was afraid of doing a poor job of it, and what I posted eventually was not as good as what he deserved. But it was what I could manage. And it was better to write something than nothing.

It's the same with most writing that I do. I could probably improve by revising and editing further--or even starting over. But I don't have time for that. So I just have to trust that readers will be forgiving and perhaps fill in the missing pieces.

I'm only just starting to see how I should be doing this career-wise. I have all kinds of ideas for ministry, but I am hesitant about trying a lot of them because I feel I don't have the credentials or experience, or because I haven't thought it out well enough. But I can only expect to be on this earth for so much longer, and the needs out there are great and I don't want to waste any more time.

This week's devotion: Dear God, please help me to stop waiting and preparing and imagining instead of actually jumping in and getting things done, right now, today, immediately. Relieve the fear of criticism that holds me back, and keep before my mind's eye the real needs that are going unmet and that I could help to address. May I not be too embarrassed or ashamed, but trust that even my half-baked ideas and slap-dash efforts are worth offering. In the name of Jesus, leader of a rag-tag band of misfits, Amen.