Perfection is a LIE. A big fat LIE.

And, perfection is exactly what almost kept me from writing this post today!!! GEEZ!!! (Insert eye roll)

Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. Ecclesiastes 7:20

However, I am so glad I didn’t listen to the inner voice taunting me with all of my failures and criticisms and ended up just saying, “Screw it! This may not be perfect, but I promised myself I would publish GEM on Thursdays and I AM DOING IT!”

The issue was that I lost a ton of time and momentum from dealing with the Snow Apocalypse in Texas last week. So, I’ve spent the majority of the past four days playing catch up and making sure I tied up loose ends that did not get done last week.

With all that being said, I failed to write GEM earlier because it wasn’t a priority with the list other things on my To Do List. BOOOOO….

However, here it is at 12:45 on Thursday afternoon and I find myself with a few minutes. I struggled to decide if I should continue pushing through my list or take the time to listen for God’s prodding and write my thoughts regardless of what came out.

Clearly, I obeyed God’s calling and here I am.

I think the biggest problem I have in many areas of my life is the perfection expectations of myself. Interestingly, I don’t have high expectation for my family or friends. However, when it comes to ME…that’s a whole different story.

I have lived my life either trying to be perfect or avoiding things that I thought I wouldn’t be able to BE perfect at. As I look back at the time wasted on trying to be perfect and worse, the multitude of things I missed out on, it really breaks my heart.

It saddens me because I would never want that for my children, family or friends. I would tell them to throw perfection out the window and to do the things that intrigue them, make their heart beat faster and ultimately makes them happy. I would tell them that it didn’t matter if they succeeded or failed because they would learn something through the process.

I would never expect perfection from someone else, so why have I always expected it from myself? That’s the million-dollar question.

The truth is that life is a journey, life is messy, and life is far from perfect.

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. John 16:33

Those three things are exactly what I’ve learned over the past year and I’m so grateful to be learning these life lessons that come with my past experiences and personal growth. One of the most important things I have committed to work on recently is to celebrate my progress and to stop reaching for perfection.

Jesus Christ is the ONLY human that has walked this earth in perfection. He is definitely the example we strive to emulate, but he made it clear that he makes us perfect THROUGH HIM and not by what we accomplish by ourselves.

He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him…. Colossians 1:22

We will never reach the glory of perfection until we meet our Maker face-to-face and He washes us with His Mercy and Grace.

He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit…. Titus 3:5

So, in the meantime, stop telling yourself that you have to be perfect. You don’t.

Stop telling yourself that it matters what people think. It doesn’t.

Most of all, stop telling yourself that God doesn’t love you the way you are. HE DOES!

Some Wisdom for Today: Proverbs 22:11 – One who loves a pure heart and who speaks with grace will have the king for a friend.