Good Enough?

I’m a perfectionist.  Not necessarily by choice, but by hard wiring.  Fancying myself as a DIY kind of gal, I’m trying to jigger those wires and fix the circuitry overload.  But it is a slow process.

Recently I saw something that echoed old arguments in my head and reframed my perfectionist perspective.

It was a classic God Nudge.  I almost missed the message.  It just looked so nice and clean in The Nester’s collection of 31 days blog topics.  My favorite colors.  Witty font.  And I skimmed on.

Then… whoa.  It sunk in.  And it’s been tickling my brain ever since.

Imperfection can be charming? 

Ergo: perfection… not so much?

Hmmmm.

We’re in the Parade of Homes season.  Every conversation seems to meander to some perfect and palatial house that someone has recently seen.  And the cluster of curious onlookers murmurs about how perfect the décor was, how stunning the lighting was, how gorgeous the color scheme was.

But no one really wants to live there. 

We want homes that embrace us with a forgiving patina of comfy couches and scuffed floors and a personality that screams (sometimes too insistently): "We live and love and create and dream here!" 

It’s hard to cultivate patina from perfection.  It requires age… oxidation… exposure to life’s rougher elements.  And the result is a stirring beauty that tells a story.

This is something I need to remember.   This is want I want to rewire in my brain, rewrite my internal soundtrack with…  Because I struggle with this inner voice that says: “Great is great.  Good is good.  Good enough, well, that’s just settling for mediocrity.”  I’ve given up on Great.  But I do want to be the Good Wife, the Good Mom, the Good and Faithful Child of God.  I am slowly figuring out, however, that if I achieve Good, then where is the need for God?  If I can be good on my own, then I forget the gift of his Grace.

Good enough is good enough for my Mr. and my kids, my friends and my family.  They don’t want flawless.  They want me here and now, available in this moment, not preoccupied with perfection. 

And God wants me here and now, as I am, flaws and all, because He is going to fill my gaps with his love and forgiveness and make me whole. He embraces my imperfections, because his power is made perfect in my weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).  I need to be okay with being good enough so I can be open to God’s saving grace which is more than enough.  My picture doesn’t have to be perfect, because his frame, in the form of a rough-hewn cross, is bigger and brighter and better than anything I can ever dream to be.

Lord, help us to embrace our flaws and your forgiveness.  Help us to accept imperfection and weakness as an invitation for your grace and your power.  And please, please, please strengthen our spirit and quiet our minds when the perfectionist drive tries to worm its way into our wiring.  Amen.