I just finished watching a replay of a perfect game thrown by Matt Cain of the San Francisco Giants. A perfect game is an amazing thing to watch, and I’ve been blessed to be able to watch two of them in the last couple of years: one by Dallas Braden of the Oakland Athletics, and this one by Matt Cain. I didn’t know Braden’s was going to happen until it did, because I was watching it live. But I knew Cain’s was going to happen before it did. The atmosphere and the excitement was still there, though. When the fielders step it up just a little bit more to get those difficult outs; when the crowd never sits down for the other team’s half inning; when shots of the pitcher’s family show their extreme anticipation. There’s nothing like it.
It’s even more fun to watch it happen when it’s a team you root for anyway. The A’s are my favorite, but the Giants are a close second.
So why do we all appreciate perfection? Probably because we’re so far from it ourselves. I know for myself, I can’t think of a time when I’ve done anything perfectly. I don’t consider myself a perfectionist, so it doesn’t pain me when I don’t reach it. I have heard that quilters will purposely add a flaw to their work to signify that only God is perfect. I like that. Perfectionism can cause all kinds of problems for people obsessed with it. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to do things well, but when we have to be perfect, we limit ourselves.
Some perfectionists take an amazingly long amount of time to make decisions, because they want to make the perfect decision.
Some perfectionists won’t try to do something because they only want to do what they can do perfectly.
Some perfectionists demand perfection from those around them, and thus they are mostly disappointed.
I like this verse: “He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He (Deut. 32:4).”
Indeed, only God is perfect.
But Matt Cain was a pretty amazing pitcher last night.
Thankful today for:
369. MLB.tv
370. anticipation
371. desire fulfilled
372. our avocado tree finally bearing fruit–and lots of it!
373. new trash cans 🙂
374. the perfection we will finally achieve in heaven
Compelled 