“Everything is perfect, but there is a lot of room for improvement.” – Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

Curious how this Zen master’s quote summarizes the tension of being a Christian.

We strive for perfection; it’s in our DNA. The reality is, we are already perfect, in God’s esteem. As God is outside of time, He is experiencing all the different versions of me. I’m stuck, living constrained by time. I experience each moment in comparison to the last and in expectation of the next. I live in my mistakes without taking the past or the future into the consideration.

God on the other hand is experiencing me in light of the arch of my entire life. At once He’s witnessing not only the mistake, but what led me there and how it will resolve. He sees me changed by His mercy. He sees the old lisa and the new lisa and the perfected lisa in eternity. And He is pleased and loves all the in-between lisas.

In His eyes I am already perfect, yet I am constrained to only see me now. Perfect, yet with a lot of room for improvement. HAH! The rub. I am not to smugly sit back and rest in this state of other-worldly perfection, no.

I have work to do. Ridding myself of ego, of pride, of selfish ambitions. Daily trying to become more Christlike. I must remember in this difficult and confusing work; I am already loved, as I am.

So, lisa – put your head down, there is a lot of room for improvement. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling but remember your eternal worth.