Not Perfect

Barn Window

Perfectionism? Been there, done that.

I don't know where the idea to be perfect comes from; when or why it comes into our heads.

I do know that, without the proper perspective, it can make us sick: in body, yes, but perhaps, most dramatically, in our very souls.

Craving attention. Wanting to please. Never being satisfied. Repeat ad infinitum.

I did it for years. (I still do, if I'm not careful.)

But this I'm learning: there is only One who is perfect.

Sigh.

(Either you just breathed a sigh of relief, or maybe the wind was knocked out of you as you fell off your white charger!)

But the news is good. Oh, so good.

Because, in our imperfection, God still seeks to perfect us, for He made us in His own image.

The work is often imperceptible. He perfects us when we're not looking. When the obstacles in our lives snatch away our attention, and the goal to be perfect -- in our own strength -- falters.

So should we stop trying harder? Certainly not. We simply need to keep a God-perspective on our striving. For when the object is not how well we're performing, but how we seek to honor God in the process, then our flaws (like missing panes in a broken window) become opportunities to serve Him.

Praise His name: Yahweh, our All-in-All!

Natalie Grant, "Perfect People," Relentless (2008)

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"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

But let patience have her perfect work,

that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

~ James 1:2-4

Amen.

Healed By His Wounds