Mastery in life comes with a certain pride of achievement. We like knowing we have what it takes to accomplish the tasks before us. But it’s not a failure when our areas for growth are also named. We must practice even in those areas in which we naturally excel, and all the more in those areas that don’t come as natural to us. This is the path of humility – not assuming we will be the best of the best in every area.
Of course, it feels good when we’re the top of our class. It brings great confidence and freedom in life when we’ve mastered certain domains. But this mastery didn’t happen overnight, even the areas of our natural gifting. And to be gifted in one area means there are many others in which there’s much room for improvement.
For instance, perhaps we felt great in school when we aced an assignment. On the other hand, we might have felt like something was wrong with us when we didn’t. But school by its very nature is meant to expose our areas of improvement and challenge us to grow. And there’s no point if we’ve already mastered everything.
The same is true throughout our life and relationships.
Maybe we’re acing fatherhood, but we have room for improvement as a husband. Or maybe while we’ve mastered providing financially for our family, we still have much to learn regarding providing for the spiritual needs of our home. Whatever the case, we don’t have to beat ourselves up or assume we’re somehow broken just because we have plenty of opportunities for growth. This is simply the adventure of life and part of God’s training school for us – pushing and challenging us to discover our true excellence. And we’re prone to miss the mark of his best whenever we expect instant mastery.
In the end, celebrate all that you do well without despising yourself when you discover you still have room for improvement. This is the humble and mature path towards God’s best.
