Don't let great be the enemy of good
Although not specifically about medicine, I gleaned this idea from a surgery rotation in medical school. It has truly lodged itself deep in my mind, only to arise at seemingly most inconvenient times. Mostly when I have a huge backlog of things I want to do, but haven't done yet. For example, this very blog. I've been jotting down notes and ideas for almost 3 years. I even have a few finished posts that I've never published. They never seem to be adequate or finished. "All good missionaries have blogs" is a mantra that was my initial motivation to write. And although I had some good ideas, and topics I find interesting, nothing ever quite adds up to that imaginary level of publication. Well, today that changes. Unfortunately not the quality of my writing, the publication part...
If it's not apparent from the title of this blog, I have aspirations to be a great missionary. A few months ago, Rachel and I started the process of procuring a call to the SDA hospital in Waterloo, Sierra Leone. And while working there as a family medicine physician, I anticipate that I'm also going to aspirate many things out of patients and hopefully not into my lungs. But it's only with God's grace that His work in and through me will become apparent.
So enjoy the blog, for what it's worth, and may God grant you the courage to aspire to His calling.
-J
