Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly. - G.K. Chesterton
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| G.K. Chesterton 1874-1936 |
With Thanksgiving Break over, the semester is winding down. Our team is preparing for the end-of-semester evaluations, both of our personal work and of our overall effectiveness on campus as a team. It has meant a lot of introspection and analysis, and for some reason, this quote by G.K. Chesterton came to mind. I had read it a while ago online somewhere, and it's stuck with me.
It's easy to get caught up in the numbers: 17 women in small groups, over 100 holy hours and Masses, 2 women in one-on-one mentorship. But these numbers don't even begin to tell the story of what this semester as a missionary has taught me. More often than not, these numbers make me feel like a failure. On a campus of 4,000+ students, I only have 17 of them in small group Bible studies.
These words came to mind on a morning when I seemed to get stuck in the "failure" of it all. They gave me such a beautiful reminder of the hope that is inherent in all that we do. If I would have waited until things were "perfect," I would never have made it out here, and 17 women wouldn't have gotten to know Christ in a deeper way through Bible study. 2 women wouldn't have been taught how to share their joy and enthusiasm to help others come to know Christ.
The timing will never be perfect. Perfection is Heaven, and outside of it, things can always be better. The important thing is to not let the circumstances stop you. Just get started, knowing that we will never get things just exactly right. But if the work is worth doing, it's worth doing it poorly.
It's easy to get caught up in the numbers: 17 women in small groups, over 100 holy hours and Masses, 2 women in one-on-one mentorship. But these numbers don't even begin to tell the story of what this semester as a missionary has taught me. More often than not, these numbers make me feel like a failure. On a campus of 4,000+ students, I only have 17 of them in small group Bible studies.
These words came to mind on a morning when I seemed to get stuck in the "failure" of it all. They gave me such a beautiful reminder of the hope that is inherent in all that we do. If I would have waited until things were "perfect," I would never have made it out here, and 17 women wouldn't have gotten to know Christ in a deeper way through Bible study. 2 women wouldn't have been taught how to share their joy and enthusiasm to help others come to know Christ.
The timing will never be perfect. Perfection is Heaven, and outside of it, things can always be better. The important thing is to not let the circumstances stop you. Just get started, knowing that we will never get things just exactly right. But if the work is worth doing, it's worth doing it poorly.
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