Try Your Best

For all my reflections this seems to be the key to living life best: simply to try your best. By doing this we’ll certainly be open to learning whatever lessons God has for us during our journeying here on earth, especially in our relationships with other human beings.

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What does trying your best mean? Here’s a list to begin with:

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- Listen to others and understand them -- even if they don’t listen to you. This is the best you can do.

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- Be patient and humble with others -- even if they aren’t patient or humble with you. This is also the best you can do.

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- It takes a commitment to contemplate (especially in times of trouble) in determining the best forms of action to take.

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- Ask, “How can I best respond here?” (This is asked in light of maintaining and enhancing relationships, not damaging them.)

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- Gain feedback from people who know you by asking, “Do you think I’m giving my best here?”

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- Not giving up. It’s staying ‘in the game’ one more round. It’s going the extra mile. No matter how we put it, it is giving our best.

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- Ask frequently, “What is life teaching me?” or “Where can I try better?”

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Many of us will be tempted to say, “Well, I tried my best.” The truth is not always so. Trying our best means surpassing the world’s version of ‘trying my best’ because it sees all possibilities and chooses the best option within the realm one has to choose.

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The greatest benefit in trying our best is the peace we get: few regrets. It seems that we’ll actually get no peace by continually striving to do our best, but the opposite is true, we rest content, untouched by trouble.

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And, we smile more!

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Copyright © 2008, Steven John Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.