We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. James 3:2 NIV
The cost of so called perfection is everything.
Constantly obsessing over every single detail of every aspect of life is debilitating. It allows no room for freedom or stillness and it suffocates every once of joy. It squeezes the peace from our lives drop by drop until their is nothing but restlessness left.
It nags and pulls. It hinders and blocks. It consumes and devours. It destroys us from the inside out. We enter into a war with ourselves when we become so obsessed with achieving the unachievable. And that war is brutal. There are no quiet fronts; every inch of our minds become the battle ground.
We start to doubt our own abilities during the war. We feel like others won't accept us unless we are perfect. We criticize ourselves until there is nothing good left. In our eyes every piece of creation is unacceptable. We can't even measure up to our own expectations.
We don't realize that God already accepts us for who we really are and He extends unimaginable love to every single one of His children. You see, we are God's creations and He made us exactly how we are supposed to be. He doesn't expect us to be perfect because He knows that only He can achieve true perfection. So why do we kill ourselves to obtain the unobtainable?
Our weaknesses allow room for God's strength and our imperfections for God's grace. God's perfect plan can (and will) be accomplished through an imperfect life. All we have to do is be still because perfection doesn't exist on this planet; only through God is it glimpsed.
Maybe the flaws make up true beauty. Maybe the imperfections are what make us original. Maybe, just maybe the little faults create room for God's grace to fill our hearts.
When we escape perfection's trap, we find a new world filled with freedom, beauty, and stillness. We don't have to give up our desires for excellence, but rather allow God to redirect us and chase after His dreams for our lives.