Letting Go of Perfect

It was floor day… and so I began the process of deep cleaning my floors. I swept, I mopped, I buffed with a cloth, and then I swept again. I felt pretty good about the results of my “clean” floor… until I made my final sweep. After all my hard work, the last thing that I wanted to see were the little sprigs of grass and specs of dirt that were still lingering on the floor. This discovery left me pretty aggravated… I had expected perfection! I knew the standard of perfect was unattainable, but still, I had it. As I began sweeping up the pile into the dust pan, the thought occurred to me, “What if letting go of “perfect” leads to a more authentic life?”
“Fake it ‘til you make it” is a pretty popular saying, but what if we stop faking it? What if we allow our imperfections to show and we allow Jesus to shine through them? Some of the most powerful moments that God has used in our home is when I admitted my imperfections to my children. As much as I would love to be a perfect Mom, I am far from it and never will I achieve that title. My children see it all! They see my love and my efforts to care for them, but they also see my shortcomings. In the mix of them seeing the good, the bad and the ugly, I want to be sure that they see my constant need for God’s continuous work in my life. On the good and bad days, I want them to see why Jesus died for me. I want them to see that we not only are saved by grace, but we must live by grace in each and everyday!
In our greatest struggles, when we are faced with how imperfect we are, may we remember what God told Paul in regards to his own shortcomings, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Let go of perfect and live in His grace!