The Joy of Being an Amateur

Written by Melanie Beath
 

When asked to write about the joy of being an amateur, I contemplated passing on the opportunity. After all, I have spent multiple decades working to achieve things, accomplish goals, and excel in my professional work and other important areas of life. The idea of being an amateur, let alone finding joy in it, is not something I have really considered. It is my nature to be a doer, a worker, an achiever, a teacher, a leader. On the other hand, the word “amateur” is associated with a lack of experience and expertise than those who consider themselves professional, and therefore, being an amateur automatically places a person at a lower level.
 

How does someone find joy in being less than what is possible when there is a higher level to achieve, more that can be attained, and greater skill to be acquired? As a person who is a self-professed former perfectionist, these are questions I have asked myself throughout much of my life. I have often struggled with the internal conflict of how one finds joy from being less than. However, life has also taught me that joy does not come from aspiring to perfection. As John 3:30 states, “He must become greater; I must become less.” 
 

Like many of you, I have multiple roles in life that are connected to my identity, including wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, worker, teacher, and mentor. These roles provide me with various opportunities to feel the need to excel and improve at a higher level. Unfortunately, along the way, I have often fallen victim to the lie that being less than what is possible is somehow connected to my value and worth. Therefore, achieving, striving, and pressing on for more was always needed. This comes from spending too much time focused on the world and its expectations of all the roles I have in life. In the process, I lost sight of the primary roles I need to walk in to find joy: Child of God, Daughter of the King, Bride of Christ, and Heir to the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 

I find that joy comes more easily when I stay focused on these roles and use them as my basis of value and worth. Compared to the Almighty God and Creator of the world, the roles I carry are amateur level. After all, loving, praying, serving, and following a God who will always be bigger and better than me is something to rejoice in. The Bible tells us that “The joy of the Lord is my strength” (Nehemiah 8:10) and that when “my heart trusts in Him, He helps me, and my heart leaps for joy” (Psalm 28:7). In fact, the Bible uses the word “joy, joyful, and rejoice” more than 430 times (ESV). One doesn't have to be an expert to know that God is trying to tell us that joy is essential to have in life, and many times, it is connected to trusting God and letting Him be the expert. There will no doubt be times in life when grief, sorrow, and sadness occur, but even in those moments, the Word of God reminds us that “weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). 
 

The reality is we are all less than we want to be sometimes, and we may not always feel like we are living up to the high standards and expectations we set for ourselves or that others have set, including God. In those times, remember there is joy in not knowing it all, or being it all. It places you in the amateur state of trusting a God who will always be more incredible, wonderful, and magnificent than we can comprehend with our human understanding. While I still aspire to excellence, I have given up being a perfectionist. I will leave that to the one, true, perfect God and find joy in being an amateur.