As a perfectionist, I know that keeping up appearances and trying to make everything I do the very best is a lot of work. Striving for perfection affects all aspects of my life. It can cause me to do things like furiously clean the house if someone is coming over, spend a ridiculous amount of time on projects and small details that no one else notices, or tell others that I’m fine when I’m having a bad day. Yet this isn’t the way God wants me to live and when He sees me working so hard trying to improve on something that’s already good enough, His heart aches for me.
So, this Lenten season, I am going to attempt to fast from my quest for perfection. My goal is to stop holding myself to unreasonably high expectations and let more people see the real me. Not spending time trying to appear perfect will give me more time for the people and things that really matter and move me closer to the person God created me to be. God doesn’t even expect me to be perfect, but if He did, He would ask me to focus on perfecting more important things like loving and serving others.
With this Lenten journey, I am also going to make an effort to be grateful for my imperfections since it is my flaws and weaknesses that cause me to depend on and draw close to God and others. And that is where I find the most joy. God knows that I’m not perfect and the beautiful thing is that He loves me exactly as I am.