Perfection Myths - 2/2

The world is suffering, groaning with crime, pain, sickness and all manner of evil pressing in on us all more and more every day. Fights lead to murder. Sickness leads to Dying. Conflict leads to War. Financial woes to Depression. Earthquakes and Hurricanes. How bloomin’ depressing trying to find domething that’s pure, or perfect!

The search for perfection is obviously futile, but there is a very big exception to all this trouble . . .

We’re all built to seek out, and find perfection. We love it when that one-in-a-million golf swing connects sweetly and that little round dimpled thing soars down the centre of the fairway, bounces a couple of times and rolls into the hole for a hole-in-one.

In business, it could be that perfect deal - the one that we’ve worked so hard on, that turns to gold and brings profit, security, as well as building our reputation. Our recent business with New Zealand car rental company Rent-a-Dent wan’t quite perfect because we had to work our butt off for them and in a perfect deal someone else would have done the work for us and we just pocketed the money, but selling a couple of dozen websites in one go was kinda nice, when we normally sell websites one at a time, with the occasional double-deal thrown in for good measure.

Or what about the perfect day on the mountain - a brand new sunny day without a cloud in the sky, four inches of nice new overnight powder, first in the queue, surveying the sights for a moment or two, then taking the first run through the pristine snow - from top of the mountain to the bottom in one amazing experience that will rest in your memory for ever.

OK, so they might not have all happened yet*, but you get the idea - these perfect moments are exceptions rather than the rule.

But, and this is the one that I love, perfection was the norm at one stage and a perfect one did bring us a slice of heaven a couple of thousasnd years ago.

Yup. The Good Book tells us that Jesus got it right. Not only in what He did, but who He was. It tells is that He is the Son of God, therefore divine, yet at the same time human and tempted, but actually perfect in every way.

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Hebrews 4:15

Just as I’ve watched the world stutter onwards into all sorts of depressing stuff, I’ve also spent years listening to all sorts of weirdos expounding all sorts of philosphies, know-it-all preachers of religion dishing up well-meaning words but often self-deluded drivel.

Comparing it all to the words of the Creator in the Good Book, there’s simply no comparison. It seems to me that it’s only pride that stops us basking in His perfection.

Leaning on the Son and taking a lead from Him is not only the VICTUS IN AMBITUS way, it’s a pretty smart way to live too.

* In well over ten years of snowboarding my son Justin and I once got the perfect day on the slopes of Ruapehu - one that could “almost” be called perfect. We were on the upper mountain around the top of the Waterfall Express when the skies unexpectedly opened up to reveal pure white pristine conditions and a good six inches of fresh snow. A couple of dozen of us got the jump on the whole mountain when they opened the top platter, enabling us to skip across the upper mountain path to Whakapapa’s Far West ski-fields.

 When we got across we couldn’t believe our eyes - hundreds of acres of beautiful untouched snow below us simply awaited a dozen of us lucky early birds to carve it up. Oh the goose-bumps even just thinking about it again! Total perfection!

Well actually while the conditions made it a perfect day it was memorable for other reasons. With total  delight and anticipation, we looked at each other, smiled, nodded and took off together, swooshing through the snow totally unable to see anything in front of us - a whiteout! Less than a minute into the run and I went sailing through the air over an unexpected ravine that was invisible in the whiteout conditions. Splat - into the snow just you see in the movies - a beautiful soft landing. Wipeout one. Picking myself up and Justin laughing - he then proceeded to do the same.

My next wipeout was very painful as I landed on my neck and ricked it painfully. Now for a guy that goes a hundred miles an hour whenever he can, this was one serious-momma landing. The soft snow was fine. My head landing was fine, the problem was that a slightly overweight body followed it and crunched down behind it, doing a bit of neck damage. That was wipeout two.

By the time I had the third wipeout I was getting the clue that we didn’t know about , having never snowboarded in deep powder before. It’s actually very different to boarding in the icey slush and man-made snow that Ruapehu usually serves up. You gotta ride it differently and make sure the back of the board doesn’t catch the snow and tip you out! Anyway, while the run was one of those perfect days, and one we’ll always remember, perfection eluded us because we, as mere mortals got involved in it!