Perfection

I just happened to stumble upon Dawn's sweet blog earlier today, and read a post she wrote last January. As I read her words on planning and preparing, my heart stopped at a something she had written. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing a couple of her words, but they are beautiful:

We may never find the perfect system at someone else's blog, but we will find encouragement. We'll find ideas - maybe even life changing ideas - or maybe we'll just find a smile. It's just nice to know we're all walking a similar path, tripping over the same stones ...

My new mantra: never mind making perfect, just make do. Because perfect is not just a fairy tale; it's really not even on the table ...

Perfect is for Him, not for me.

Wow.

Did that last sentence just stop you in your tracks like it did me? Perfect is for Him- not for me. So why do I constantly push myself to perfection? It will never happen. And I shouldn't beat myself up for not reaching it. Getting worked up and upset is such a time waster, yet I can't help but keep trying for that unattainable goal. If God meant for this world to be perfect, He would have made it that way. But He knew we'd lose the chance to make choices and have free will. We wouldn't be able to learn from our past mistakes.

Remember my Thanksgiving freak out about not having enough place settings, or plates, I can't even remember which now. That was the moment I knew I had gone too far. And I'm learning how to cope with 'average' and 'normal', and not perfect. But I still struggle with accepting it.

I've got a long road ahead of me. But thank God for women like Dawn, whose beautiful prose reminds me to slow down and be thankful the abilities I do have and the goals I do reach, and not remember the ones I do not.