Hey, Friend. If you are feeling pressure to attain perfection in your own home, for your own family, friends, or community circles, then this is for you…
She cries the tears of perfection misunderstood. The superhero cape doesn’t fit and the crown she imagined wearing lost its sparkle long ago.
She’s tired.
She’s worn.
She’s flabby.
At first she feels as if she’s abandoned everything she ever stood for. She had plans of keeping a perfect home complete with gourmet meals, immaculately kept children, and the body of a slightly curvier, although much shorter, supermodel. She planned to study her Bible every morning at dawn and pray down on her knees with fervor before the house ever began to stir.
But as one of the tears birthed from misunderstood perfection rolled down her cheek into the dishwater, where she was washing her favorite coffee cup, it sent up a beautiful mirrored bubble.
She saw her reflection.
And she smiled.
She smiled at the realization that perfection is in dire need of a new definition. The superhero cape needs altered, and let’s face it; we all need to practice laying down our crowns. Taking them off our heads in humility will solve many issues derived from that nasty villain who has a name beginning with a capital “P.”
Her body? It’s birthed children and fed children. It’s been through 2:00am fevers, 3:00am teething, and 4:00am coughs and colds. She’s gone hours and hours when she forgot to eat because she was feeding everyone else. And, as a result, her metabolism went a little haywire…
However, it made her look like who she is: A wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. And I’m not speaking about the body outside; I’m talking about the soul inside.
When we strive for our tasks to be sweet offerings for others rather than an attempt at perfection, we are serving Christ. (Tweet to encourage.)
Don’t get me wrong. She will still hope for small miracles on the scale, and pray for the extra energy to polish the floors. She’ll still strive for her kids to be well dressed, neat, and clean as they enter the school bus. She will go to bed asking God for enough caffeine to entice her to rise early in the morning to study and pray. And she will still work hard to accomplish tasks. Not because they equal perfection, but because they show love.
And when she has days with laundry piles high enough to practice scaling Everest…
She will STILL be everything God created her to be. Why? Because she spent her days serving people through His love. And that is the only thing she wants to be remembered for anyway.
Love,
Jennifer
For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
-Galatians 5:13
My book, Nothing to Hold but Hope, is available via Amazon!
Thank you for the freedom your words have given me today!