Are you striving for perfection?

This is my imperfect photo after several attempts! Photo by Linder Hunn?

As a writer, there have been times that I have been distraught when I have released a publication and discovered a misspelled word or a grammatical error.  I wanted everything to be perfect.  Yet, I have discovered that I am always going to miss something in my writing.  Even with the extra pair of eyes from an editor, something can still be overlooked and there goes my chance to release the most perfect book on earth.  (And, it’s not only in my writing!  Imagine that, huh?)

I spent so many of my years trying to be perfect and I’m still nowhere close.  I still say the wrong things at the wrong time, I still misspell words, I still forget things or overlook things, I still offend people I love, I still procrastinate, etc.  My “still” list goes on and on.

Let’s face it, we are going to say something we shouldn’t say or do something we shouldn’t do.  It’s a given, or should I say, a guarantee, we ALL are prone to make mistakes or we are unintentionally going to overlook some things in our daily lives.  Our snapshot isn’t going to perfect, but it’s going to be real!  Sometimes we will feel like we’ve hit our target head on and other times like we are miles away from our target.  And we have to learn not to be so hard on ourselves and rely on God’s strength and guidance.  God is not asking us to do anything in our own strength (and some things He’s not asking us to do at all!).  He is asking us to trust Him and rely on Him.  Remember this passage of scripture--I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, take that to heart—do what you can do and leave the rest to Him!  You don’t have to strive for perfection today or any other day!