Perfection

"God spent a long time making you and He doesn't make worthless things!" Funny how God works. The word perfection has been bouncing around my brain for the past two weeks. I've thought about what it means to be perfect, how much I long for perfection in my life, how perfection is really unattainable and not true to reality. I think our on-line world has enhanced the race towards perfection. We see everyone in a way that is not realistic or true to the everyday mess of our lives. When we do let the disaster show, it's a cute concocted picture of something hilarious or something that will garner positive attention. Today, I sat in our auditorium at church and listened to the sermon as it penetrated my soul. The subject: Comparison. Oh man. Wow. For me, perfection stems from two sources: my utter need and desire to have everything neat and tidy AND my quick ability to compare my life to others. Why do I think others' lives are perfect? I know the truth. I believe in a redeemer that, while He saves us through His precious grace, we are not truly perfect until Heaven. I know that no one is perfect yet, many times, that's how I view their lives. While I try to keep the house perfect cleaning up one disaster after the other, I exhaust myself and miss the opportunity to build a great Lego ship or kick a soccer ball around in the backyard with my boys. And why do I care what people think when they walk into my house? I have three boys, a dog, a very part-time job, and a husband who travels for work occasionally. The house is going to be messy. My memory verse right now comes from 1 Timothy 1:16 and says, "But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst of sinners. Then others will realize that they too can believe in Him and receive eternal life." My favorite part of that verse is where it states that He is patient with me. I love that He is merciful and working in me so that others may gain eternal life. That's really what I am working toward. Not perfection. We sing a song in church that says, "To our God we lift up one voice. To our God we lift up one song." We are all on different life journeys but headed to the same place. We have ONE God we are moving toward in our messy, sinful, imperfect selves and He wouldn't have it any other way. Today, I am allowing myself to be absolutely completely imperfect. And I'm okay with that. Love and Blessings, Megan