Monday quote

Rights and obligations are brother principles, both owing their existence to the God who made us creatures of equal dignity, possessing the logos that makes our self-government possible.

Matthew J. Franck

Monday quote

All is lost when a man’s first vice is a delusion of infallibility. All other vices will then cascade through their lives, and they will be forced by the resultant cacophony to jam their fingers ever more forcefully into their ears. Wise people realize the limits of their own knowledge and accept that new arguments must be confronted or compel a change of opinion. Fools have all the answers and brook no new questions.

DC Sunset

Monday quote

A long face is not a moral disinfectant.

C. S. Lewis

Some important lessons about faith, life, and work

After working several years at the Acton Think Tank, Jordan J Ballor summarises some important things he has learnt.

Over that time I’ve learned some important lessons about faith, life, and work.

His 5 points are

1. Treat people like people.
2. Your work matters to God.
3. Culture matters.
4. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
5. The dirtiest work has already been done.

They are all good points and he briefly expands on them. Item 4 is useful for perfectionists

There’s a saying in graduate school that the only good dissertation is a done dissertation. The truth of this insight applies to other endeavors, too. Let good enough be good enough. If you wait to “go live” with something until it is perfect, it will never see the light of day. Realize that improvement is a never-ending process, and that the only way to achieve anything is to risk failure and even embarrassment. Perfectionism can be a way of withdrawing from the responsibilities of work in this world. So don’t let your high standards be an excuse to wash your hands of genuine engagement.

There are things best done by perfectionists which need significant time devoted to them. But the perfectionist mentality can afflict all their tasks making them unnecessarily inefficient in areas that good enough will do. In other words, the admonishment is addressed to perfectionists, not those of a more sanguine disposition.

Monday quote

For myself, I long ago decided that I would rather know the truth than be happy in ignorance. If I can not have both truth and happiness, give me truth. We’ll have a long time to be happy in heaven.

Aiden Wilson Tozer