jeri

perfect

08/22/2011

1 Comment

 
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Lately I have seen more and more how my drive to be perfect is having a toll on my children.  I have witnessed them struggling with the same insatiable thirst to meet an invisible, changing standard and I have felt both helpless and ashamed to have given them such a poor model.  But how else can I live?  This is the only life I know.  Yet, in this season I have had the hope that if God is letting me see this problem, He must have a way out!

As I have turned to Him, and begun praying about this, the most amazing new thoughts have come to mind: 
“What if I can just own where I am at?”
“What if I can just be who I am in this moment without shame?”
“ What if God accepts me right here and I am the only one who expects more?”
“What if perfection itself is only an illusion?”
“What if obsessing over perfection is a sin that can be confessed
                                                                    and forgiven?”

These thoughts seem in line with what I know of the Bible and God’s character and they come with so much hope!  I believe that God has always accepted me just as I am, lumps and all.  That is the glory, the amazing grace of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross!  God does not require perfection from me; instead he offers it to me in Jesus Christ, my Savior.  I am filled with joy that, although I am still struggling, I am confident God is delivering me from this prison of perfectionism I have built for myself, one thought at a time!”  - J
H