Sometimes we deceive ourselves.  Other times, we are misled. 

Our society, in fact, our world, is doing a really good job of currently misleading us.  We are being told, from multiple sources, that there is no definite value of "good" or "true."  It's all about figuring out what works for you or your family.  Everything is relative. 

For some subjects, actually quite a few subjects, I agree.  Is red a good color?  It depends on where and how you are planning to display this color.  :)

For other subjects, I whole-heartedly disagree.  Is murder a good action?  No.  Not ever.

This idea of relative thinking has led us into a life of comparative living.  We base a lot of our actions on "better."  We figure as long as we're doing better than someone or something else, then we're doing good.

I just don't think that's right.  I think we all have a best.  I think doing any less than that of which we are fully capable is bad...or at least less than good.

Take Usain Bolt as an example.  He currently holds the world record in the 100 m dash, with a run time of 9.69 seconds.  Most people would say that's a good record.  Most people would say that was a good run.  Most people would say he did a good job.  He beat everyone else on that track by a leg length at least.

However, he stopped running a good 20 m before the race was even finished.  He slowed down, because he knew he had it in the bag.

That's less than good.  He could have done better.  If he had kept pushing himself towards the best, he would have done better than he did.  So, while his record is impressive, while his record is better than any that has been reached before this time, it is still less than what it could have been.  It is still less than what I believe he will make it in the future.  So it's less than good.

Now, don't stop reading my posts.  I know this sounds harsh.  And, please, believe me when I say that I'm not judgmental about this.  Please believe me when I say that I am constantly trying to remind myself of this fact, as well.  Please believe me when I say that I realize that there are several areas where each of our "bests" will fall at a different point on the spectrum.

I guess the only thing I'm trying to point out is that sometimes we get a skewed sense of our bad areas, because we compare them to other people's bad areas.  We can actually even forget that what we're doing is bad, because it's not as bad as something else.  In the case of controlling my speech, it's often easy for me to say, "Well, what I said really wasn't bad, seeing as how I really wanted to say ______."  Or  "I know that I lose control of my speech sometimes.  However, I'm not as bad as I used to be."  Or  "Man, I thought my speech was bad, but at least I don't say the kinds of things that Susie Q says."

Many times, we diminish our worsts by saying, "At least I'm not as bad as..."  or  "At least I don't..."

That line of thinking leads us into a trap of settling for less than good and forgetting our true identity.  We decide that we're pretty good, even though we're less than our best.  I believe that kind of thinking leads us to miss out on a whole, whole lot.  It leads us a to live a life that is less than good, less than best.

Stick with me, okay?  This is the last of the bad news.  The good stuff is around the corner.  And it'll make more sense for why we had to even discuss the bad news.

Because the truth of the matter is that:

When we finally understand who we really are...
When we finally stop living our life "better than"...
When we start looking at ourselves in an accurate and unskewed light...

Then we realize how much more we are capable of accomplishing.
We realize how much more blessing is out there for us to receive.
We realize that we are free to start living our life as the "best of"...

When we finally realize that there is something more amazing than this "better than" life we've been living, we get really excited. 

We get excited, because we finally understand that there really is more to this life. 

And don't we all want a little more?

So stick with me, okay?  The best is yet to come.