Years ago, when I was around 15 or 16 (or maybe a little younger, I can’t really remember), I was at my old church’s office (when it was my current church, of course) volunteering with my Mom to fold bulletins or some such thing.
She was getting kind of stuck on trying to get them folded perfectly. I, on the other hand, am easier going in that way, and I was just doing the best I could do and still get the job done in a timely manner.
When she made a comment about not getting them right, I said, “God doesn’t need you to be perfect; He appreciates your best effort.”
At that, my Mom said, “Who said that?”
“Me. Didn’t you hear me?”
Ha — that’s one of our family funnies to say. Really cute, huh? (Or, perhaps just a little obnoxious.)
“No, really,” she said.
“No, really. Me,” I said. She was thoroughly impressed, but it was true.
And, it still is true.
God knows us better than anyone else. God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows that we are not perfect, and He loves us all the same. He knows our struggles and our weaknesses. And, sometimes, I imagine that He watches us and cheers for us when we put forth that effort in the difficult times.
Perhaps it is in those most difficult moments when we feel like we are just trudging along that God is most pleased with us, because it is in those times when we feel like giving up, but instead, we just trudge along and do what we can with what we have.
Even though I can be pretty easy going, I still sometimes beat myself up inside when things aren’t just right. I know that I am my own toughest critic. I forget that everything I do should be for God, and even if I think what I do should be perfect, He doesn’t. He knows me better than that, and He loves me all the same.
I’d like to say that I have some profound reason for writing this right now, but I don’t. It has been years since I thought of that moment in the church office, but it just came to me while I was doing some things in the kitchen. Perhaps it came to me because I have been a little down lately, and maybe I needed to remember it. (God seems to like to talk to me in my kitchen.)
Or, maybe I needed to sit down and write this because somebody will read it who needs to hear it. And, if that’s the case, let me just say, to whomever you and wherever you are…
You don’t need to try to be perfect. You have just as much right to have failures as everyone else does. You cut other people slack, so why not do it for yourself. God doesn’t want you to beat yourself up trying to be perfect. You know you can’t be perfect, and so does He. He made you to be who you are, so don’t fight it. Sure, you can do things to try to be better, but don’t kill yourself trying to be what you can’t be. He doesn’t want that for you. He wants you to be you.
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