In the British Museum in London there is displayed the final draft of Thomas Gray’s masterpiece of a poem, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.”  Lovers of English literature marvel at how every word seems to be carefully chosen.

The amazing thing is that Thomas Gray never considered that poem complete.  In the museum display you can see the process through which he went, each successive draft carefully penned by hand.  Seventy-five of them!  And the author was still unsatisfied.

Two lessons are there.  One, there’s always room for improvement.  If we are perfectionists, that will likely drive us almost crazy.  If we are not perfectionists, we need to keep it constantly in mind. 

The second lesson is that the time comes when we have to move on, leaving both success and failure behind us.  Saint Paul in the New Testament put it this way: “One thing I do, forgetting what lies behind, and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal.”

You can relax, knowing that maybe your best is not good enough -- but you’ll have another chance.