Letting Go of Perfection

One of the things I love most about writing this blog is knowing the Lord is leading me in what I write about. So often I have plans to write on a certain topic, and sometimes even as I am writing, the Lord changes and "tweaks" what I write. That is evident in most of my posts, but especially today. I first wanted to show you pictures of some of my spring decorating, before it gets in the too-distant past! The picture on the left is the "Before" using a lot of the snowmen I have in my collection. My husband graciously tolerates all the snowmen around here all winter, but when spring comes he wants me to get rid of them! Hence, the spring decorations in the "After" picture on the right.

Here are a couple close-ups. I found the cute birdcage at Hobby Lobby and filled it with the pretty pastel Easter eggs you see here, from Pier One.  The blue mason jar and the tulips were finds from Michaels. All were on sale! And I love the big letter E!

One more picture - four of my beautiful granddaughters in their Easter dresses, on Easter morning before church. Actually they were only here for Easter because of my mother-in-law's funeral, but it was such a special blessing to have them here!

These pictures, however, do not tell the whole story. As perfect as the pictures look, things were most definitely NOT perfect at our house on Easter. It was, in fact, probably the most chaotic and imperfect Easter I have ever had. Originally, we had plans to have two other couples in our church over for Easter dinner. I had enjoyed browsing through Pinterest for the "perfect" recipes to serve and table decorations to use. In God's plans (which are always perfect!), reality was quite different. He took my mother-in-law home to heaven, and the funeral was the day after Easter. Because we had to leave for Pennsylvania immediately after the morning service, there was no time for an Easter dinner. My daughter and I made food - and it ended up being a conglomeration of a menu, due to us wanting to use up what we had on hand since we were going away - on Saturday. So on Easter Sunday, everyone was busy changing clothes, packing last-minute items, and watching children. We set all the leftover (!) food out on the kitchen counter with a stack of (gulp!) paper plates. And in between packing snacks and suitcases, loading the cars, programming GPS's, and taking care of 4 small children we all took turns putting our plates of leftovers into the microwave and eating in shifts! No decorations, no special menu, no sit-down dinner together, and most definitely no perfection!

If you know me at all, you know that this was HARD for me! I am the stereo-typical firstborn child. I thrive on organization, precise detail, and PERFECTION. Over the years, the Lord has had to work on that in me. I have learned that while I need to strive for excellence, that perfection is something I have to overcome. Perfection is defined as wanting to do everything just right, and trying to meet a standard of performance that we have set. I can really identify with Martha in the Bible. She would have been a woman after my own heart - trying to have everything perfect for Jesus and the rest of her guests! The danger is in neglecting the more important things in the quest to have everything perfect. I have to ask God to help me "keep the main thing the main thing" and have the right priorities. Being a loving, gracious, and Godly example to my family is much more important than maintaining that self-imposed standard of perfection.

In Christ, we are "accepted in the beloved." Ephesians 1:6 says "to the praise of the glory of His Grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved." People like me tend to feel like we have to be perfect to be accepted by the Lord. Not so. He loves us with an everlasting, unchanging, and perfect love that is not rooted in who we are or what we do. It is rooted in who He is. We also tend to demand perfection from others, and that's not right either. Thankfully we have an awesome God who, if we depend on Him, gives us "grace upon grace." 

Maybe you can't identify with me. Maybe being a perfectionist is not a problem for you. But I have to think there are others out there like me, and I hope this is an encouragement to you! Seek to keep your priorities what they should be and to let go of perfection. 

Till next time,

Kathi