A few months ago friend of mine gave me a quote she has posted in front of her computer at work. The phrase is “Progress…not perfection.”
My friend knows me well and with this one phrase she was trying to tell me that God does not expect me to be perfect…He doesn’t even expect me to be close to perfect. However, He expects me to grow.
God knows we are not perfect. God knows we are human. After all, He created us to be human and He is well aware of our frailties, our weaknesses, and our bent toward selfishness. These things come as no surprise to God.
We must accept the fact that we are human and give ourselves permission to be human. We will never achieve perfection this side of Heaven so it would be beneficial to our spiritual, mental, and emotional well-being to accept the fact that we are not perfect. In accepting the fact that we are not perfect, we take the pressure off ourselves to be something we cannot be. As a result, we can stop pretending to be someone we are not and we can be real with ourselves and with each other.
For a perfectionistic person like myself, this phrase “Progress…not perfection” provided a brief moment of fresh air. After that brief moment, my perfectionistic mindset automatically kicked in and I started focusing on my progress. Is my progress what it’s supposed to be? Am I behind where God wants me to be? I know I’m not where I want to be but I don’t know how to get there…how do I get there? As I resisted these thoughts and considered my personal growth, I realized that God is the One Who makes me grow. I cannot change me. Only God can change me and lead me down the path of progress. There is an effort of my self-will that I could apply that might change me to a certain degree, but God is the only One Who can truly change me and cause me to grow the way He wants me to grow and to become the woman He wants me to be.
How does this happen? How do we grow? We grow and make progress when we trust and obey. We trust God and believe what He has revealed about Himself and about human life in the Bible. We obey God when we read about something in the Bible that we are to do and then we do it. As we trust and obey we grow. As we grow we make progress. I have heard someone say “I’m not where I want to be but I not where I used to be, either.” I’m learning that life is all about progress…not perfection.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Thirteen Mistakes I Have Made...and Still Make Sometimes
1. Being complacent when I should have been proactive.
2. Letting someone else's lifestyle choice affect my choices.
3. Taking for granted that a promise made will be a promise kept.
4. Not getting professional help for issues I needed help with sooner than what I did.
5. Believing that I can change other people’s behaviors and attitudes.
6. Isolating myself from other people when I hurt.
7. When asked, “What’s wrong?” I say “Nothing.”
8. Being unaware of the emotional needs of other people.
9. Ignoring my emotional needs.
10. Treating people the way I want to be treated based on my personality instead of treating people based on the needs of their personality.
11. Believing that I could not lose weight.
12. Believing that failure is a person, not an event.
13. Believing that I am not worth loving.
2. Letting someone else's lifestyle choice affect my choices.
3. Taking for granted that a promise made will be a promise kept.
4. Not getting professional help for issues I needed help with sooner than what I did.
5. Believing that I can change other people’s behaviors and attitudes.
6. Isolating myself from other people when I hurt.
7. When asked, “What’s wrong?” I say “Nothing.”
8. Being unaware of the emotional needs of other people.
9. Ignoring my emotional needs.
10. Treating people the way I want to be treated based on my personality instead of treating people based on the needs of their personality.
11. Believing that I could not lose weight.
12. Believing that failure is a person, not an event.
13. Believing that I am not worth loving.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
You Can't Live Life in Bed!
I am a thinker personality type and it is not uncommon for me to wake up in the morning and lay in bed thinking about the day, even the week ahead of me. I imagine the things that need to happen and what might go wrong if I try to accomplish this or that. I naturally slip into thinking about the consequences and next steps after completing the things I have thought about. And what if I fail or can’t do it? I then think about backup plans A, B, C, and all the way through ZZ should my original plan not produce the desired results!! On a recent morning while still in bed I was in this thinking mode and I felt the Lord tell me that I “can’t live life in bed.” It was time to get up and get to it.
Do you live your life in bed? Maybe you live your life in a chair or on the couch. You get up, go to work, come home, and sit in the chair and watch TV until it’s time to go to bed and then you do it all over again the next day. While you are laying in bed, sitting in the chair or on the couch, do you think about the life you want? Do you think about having a more consistent relationship with God? A more satisfying marriage? A better relationship with your children? A more satisfying job? A physically fit body? A general attitude of being able to enjoy life? All of these desires are good ones but to have what you are thinking about you have to get out of bed, out of that chair, or off that couch and you have to do something about it. Wanting it will not be enough. You have to get up and get to it.
If you do not get up and actually live life, you place yourself in a vulnerable position of distraction. Thoughts simmer about what you want but an interesting dynamic happens when you do not actively pursue positive things…you tend to think about what is wrong with the things in your life that you would like to change. As you continue to brood on what is wrong, you can fall prey to all kinds of deception from Satan.
What kinds of deception can we fall prey to when we are not applying effort towards desires that are God approved? Subtle traps like the mindset that nothing will change, addiction to mindless TV, busyness, or shopping . Horrible traps such as an adulterous affair, the use of or addiction to alcohol, drugs, or pornography. Whether subtle or blatantly horrible, private or public, the traps are designed to keep us from fulfilling God’s plan for our lives. When we do not live life the way God has designed we open ourselves to all manner of evil regardless of how subtle or horrible.
Do not live life from an inactive state and run the risk of falling prey to those things that can make your life ineffective. Do not allow Satan to distract and blind you from what God wants to do through someone who is willing to live life by His design. Get up and live life with the purpose for which you have been created, to love God and keep His commands. Then let Him lead you and guide you in what you must do to experience a deeper relationship with God and experience joy and peace and whatever you work towards. Nothing will happen if you lay around or sit around. If you do nothing, you have nothing, and you get nothing.
Don’t live life from bed. Get up and get to it!
Scriptures
Ecclesiastes 12:13: “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commands, for this is the whole duty of man.”
John 10:10: “I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
Do you live your life in bed? Maybe you live your life in a chair or on the couch. You get up, go to work, come home, and sit in the chair and watch TV until it’s time to go to bed and then you do it all over again the next day. While you are laying in bed, sitting in the chair or on the couch, do you think about the life you want? Do you think about having a more consistent relationship with God? A more satisfying marriage? A better relationship with your children? A more satisfying job? A physically fit body? A general attitude of being able to enjoy life? All of these desires are good ones but to have what you are thinking about you have to get out of bed, out of that chair, or off that couch and you have to do something about it. Wanting it will not be enough. You have to get up and get to it.
If you do not get up and actually live life, you place yourself in a vulnerable position of distraction. Thoughts simmer about what you want but an interesting dynamic happens when you do not actively pursue positive things…you tend to think about what is wrong with the things in your life that you would like to change. As you continue to brood on what is wrong, you can fall prey to all kinds of deception from Satan.
What kinds of deception can we fall prey to when we are not applying effort towards desires that are God approved? Subtle traps like the mindset that nothing will change, addiction to mindless TV, busyness, or shopping . Horrible traps such as an adulterous affair, the use of or addiction to alcohol, drugs, or pornography. Whether subtle or blatantly horrible, private or public, the traps are designed to keep us from fulfilling God’s plan for our lives. When we do not live life the way God has designed we open ourselves to all manner of evil regardless of how subtle or horrible.
Do not live life from an inactive state and run the risk of falling prey to those things that can make your life ineffective. Do not allow Satan to distract and blind you from what God wants to do through someone who is willing to live life by His design. Get up and live life with the purpose for which you have been created, to love God and keep His commands. Then let Him lead you and guide you in what you must do to experience a deeper relationship with God and experience joy and peace and whatever you work towards. Nothing will happen if you lay around or sit around. If you do nothing, you have nothing, and you get nothing.
Don’t live life from bed. Get up and get to it!
Scriptures
Ecclesiastes 12:13: “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commands, for this is the whole duty of man.”
John 10:10: “I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
Sunday, May 4, 2008
God, You Can Heal Me Just Like That!
A month or so ago I was sharing my hurt with the Lord. I am still in a healing and recovery mode after losing something very dear to me and it was just time to cry again and express my hurt and pain and loneliness with tears.
As I prayed to the Lord while crying in His direction, I said, “Lord, You can heal me just like that!” and I snapped my fingers. I went on to the tell the Lord how I believe with all my heart that all He has to do is just make the decision to heal me and all my hurt and pain and loneliness and bitterness would be gone and I could put certain circumstances behind me once and for all and not be bothered by them anymore.
I firmly believe I was right. God could very easily heal me and take away all the pain in an instant. But what would also be taken away is an opportunity to continue to grow and learn how to become the woman God wants me to be. As much as I wish there was a better way to grow, I have come to believe that the greatest growth a person can experience comes in the difficult times in life.
The Bible offers many promises and words of comfort to those who are suffering. The Bible also tells us that good things can happen through our suffering. I have read words of promises and encouragement in the Bible many times in the years in which I have been a Christian but I did not receive them or apply them to me because I was too busy begging God to deliver me from the suffering. I thought that suffering was a bad thing and should be avoided and should not have a place in the Christian’s life. I see things differently now.
It is part of human life to experience pain and suffering. Sometimes the pain and suffering is the consequences of our own choices and behaviors. Sometimes it is the consequence of the choices and behaviors of others. Either way, we can take our pain, suffering, and ourselves to God and ask Him to lead us and guide us through the healing process. As we let God lead us and guide us, we can learn so much about how to trust Him.
I continue to pray for God to lead me and guide me through the healing and forgiveness process. I no longer ask Him why He won’t heal me instantly. I just pray that I have my heart open to be patient with Him as I wait on Him to heal me in His time and in His way.
As I prayed to the Lord while crying in His direction, I said, “Lord, You can heal me just like that!” and I snapped my fingers. I went on to the tell the Lord how I believe with all my heart that all He has to do is just make the decision to heal me and all my hurt and pain and loneliness and bitterness would be gone and I could put certain circumstances behind me once and for all and not be bothered by them anymore.
I firmly believe I was right. God could very easily heal me and take away all the pain in an instant. But what would also be taken away is an opportunity to continue to grow and learn how to become the woman God wants me to be. As much as I wish there was a better way to grow, I have come to believe that the greatest growth a person can experience comes in the difficult times in life.
The Bible offers many promises and words of comfort to those who are suffering. The Bible also tells us that good things can happen through our suffering. I have read words of promises and encouragement in the Bible many times in the years in which I have been a Christian but I did not receive them or apply them to me because I was too busy begging God to deliver me from the suffering. I thought that suffering was a bad thing and should be avoided and should not have a place in the Christian’s life. I see things differently now.
It is part of human life to experience pain and suffering. Sometimes the pain and suffering is the consequences of our own choices and behaviors. Sometimes it is the consequence of the choices and behaviors of others. Either way, we can take our pain, suffering, and ourselves to God and ask Him to lead us and guide us through the healing process. As we let God lead us and guide us, we can learn so much about how to trust Him.
I continue to pray for God to lead me and guide me through the healing and forgiveness process. I no longer ask Him why He won’t heal me instantly. I just pray that I have my heart open to be patient with Him as I wait on Him to heal me in His time and in His way.
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