The other day I linked to Cath Richardson’s writeup about goodfornothing. In the last year, I’ve started to really appreciate the upside to not finishing things; we tend to assume completion is all but it has its penalties. Here’s how Cath puts it:
Not finishing is a bonus. It all got a bit rushed by the last 2 hours as the finishing line approached and a few last pieces in the puzzle came together too close to the wire. At first I was disappointed that we hadn’t tied up all the loose ends but then I realised that not finishing is part of the party. It’s what keeps the ideas and the energy running in your head long after the event is over and I hope we’ll be able to convert some of that energy into doing more in future with the groups we worked with. On a more general note not polishing your work up to too fine a degree also means you don’t get too attached and are ready to take it apart to build something even better next time.
Today I was catching up on the footprintsinthewind blog and came across this, which feels related:
When we set up a mighty god in front of us, we are constructing something built on our wishes: desires for things or wealth or fame or popularity or destruction of others. A powerful god is a human ego-driven god. A real God, one who is real and meets us where we are is one who knows failure, defeat, and the need for hugs, one who is not afraid to say “Who knew?” A real God is found in reality: in unanswered prayer not just impossible wishes granted, in prisons not just achievement, in poverty not just wealth, in broken cluttered homes not in shiny and new, in sickness not miraculous cures, in still hush not loud pounding pulpits. A real God is suffering, surprising, weak….That means we have work to get to.
