Perfectionism

It is good to always strive to be the best we can be - but what if our best is never good enough?

Many parents push their children so hard to get straight A's that anything less than an A is unacceptable. I want my children to do well in school. I want them to do their best. I think it is a fine balance between pushing them to do their best and teaching them that anything less than perfection is unacceptable. I don't have the blue print on how to balance this successfully, but what I do know is that God doesn't expect perfection. If he did he wouldn't have sent his son to pick up the slack for our mistakes.

People who always need the approval of others desperately want everyone to look at them from head to toe and say "perfect." When they do any kind of job, they want everyone to look at it and say, "perfect." In everything they do- the things they say, the way they look, every action that they take - they want people to say "perfect."

The one thing that we can always count on is that no one on this earth is perfect. No one on this earth will ever be perfect. God is perfect. To expect ourselves to be perfect is taking the power of Christ's atonement out of our lives. God wants us to have joy. He wants us to be the best we can be. He doesn't expect us to be perfect. Who we are is enough. We should allow Christ to make up the difference.

Perfectionism is a very depressing dragon because we will never attain it. No matter how hard we try. We will never attain it.

We need to give ourselves permission to simply be, to love ourselves because God loves us. To realize that we are enough. Our best is enough.

You are ENOUGH. :)