Good Enough For Who It’s For
FROM THE RECTOR
A wise woman in a former parish once taught me a helpful way to keep things in perspective: “It’s good enough for who it’s for,” she said to me. It was Easter Eve. She was working on the flowers for the next morning, meticulously arranging tiny blossoms in a caged piece of Oasis floral foam, which she had lashed with olive-green pipe cleaners to an iron fence outside the church. Other members of the Flower Guild buzzed about, each working on her own part of the project. The woman who was in charge of that year’s Easter flowers stopped by each station to offer whatever constructive criticism was needed to make sure all of the elements would come together to fit her vision.
This little piece of caged Oasis was to be affixed to something inside the church—a processional cross, the pulpit, or an angel statue, I can’t remember—and, after obsessing over it for more than long enough and receiving more than one round of constructive criticism, this woman shrugged her shoulders and looked at me and said, “It’s good enough for who it’s for.”
I have spent a decade chewing on those words. At times, they invite me to let go of the things I, too, obsess over, reminding me that no one is perfect. I hold them close to my heart when I am dealing with people who never seem to be happy no matter how hard I try. I pray them when I need help remembering that a particular task is only a small part of a much bigger thing. I repeat them to myself as a way of acknowledging that sometimes it is better to call it quits and move on.
But I also hear her words as an invitation to consider what faithfulness looks like—both ours and God’s. If she had been fixing a meal or wrapping a present, I would have understood her focus to be only on the person she was working for. Since she was preparing flowers for the church, however, her statement carried another layer of significance. More than commenting on an overly meticulous supervisor, she was also acknowledging that her work on those flowers that day was good enough even for God.
What makes our offerings good enough for God? One of the most perplexing, even haunting, passages in the Bible is Genesis 4, in which Cain and Abel both presented their offerings to God, yet God only had regard for what Abel brought. When the fruit of his labor was rejected, Cain became very angry—angry enough even to murder his brother. Although the New Testament book Hebrews notes that Abel’s offering had been made with true faithfulness, the Bible never explains to us what was wrong with his brother’s offering. We only know that the fat portions of the firstlings of Abel’s flock were accepted while the fruit of Cain’s harvest was not.
Whether we are preparing a flower arrangement or rehearsing an offertory anthem or crafting a sermon, what we bring to church is our offering to God. As the source of all things and giver of all gifts, God does not need what we present. “Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?” God asks in Psalm 50. “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine.” If our offerings are not needed by God, they must be needed by us. We give them in order to strengthen our relationship with our Creator. We present them simultaneously as an expression of and a means to deepen our gratitude for and confidence in God.
Because all we have comes from God—the perfect, holy, loving, and generous source of all blessing—we give to God our very best. Nothing less will do. When we offer less than our best, we erode the faith our offering is intended to instill. But what flower arrangement could ever be beautiful enough for God? What anthem could ever be perfect enough for God? The one we offer with our whole heart.
God does not reject our offering when a blossom is out of place or a note is out of tune. Like the birthday card your four-year-old grandchild made for you, our offerings are measured only by the love and faithfulness with which they are presented. We can never say to God, “Here, accept my half-hearted gesture,” but we can always believe that, no matter how meager our gift may be, whatever we give to God with our whole heart will be received and honored. God is the one who accepts the offerings of our hearts whatever they may be. For God, only our very best is good enough, but even our best is always good enough for who it’s for.
Yours Faithfully,
Evan