Pending Perfection

I wrote this blog post awhile back. When I reread it I thought it was timely. We are engrossed in the holiday season. We are all chasing something right now.

Chasing busy.

Chasing the perfect gift.

Chasing the perfect meal on the perfectly set table.

Chasing perfect.

What if this season we drop chasing perfect and start chasing our best? We confidently step into the beauty of our abilities: the very ones He created within us. The holiday season will no longer be something that stresses us out. Instead, we can walk assuredly into this season knowing that we will experience beauty all around us because we are resting in his perfect design for us.  Stop chasing perfect and start chasing you.

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I love Pinterest. I really do. It’s such a pretty world. I love looking at the reipes and decor. I fantasize about adding barn doors to every open space in my home. Pinterest gets a bad rap. I get it. It’s difficult to try and live up to what seems like an unattainable world. But, what if we looked at Pinterest a little different? What if, instead of chasing perfection, we chase our best?

I dapple in many things. I have a creative side that needs to get out and it shows in various capacities. I like to explore home interiors. I am a really great at organizing. I can take a pretty decent picture. And, I love to write. The kitchen is my happy place and I love to create food masterpieces. I find a lot of my passion and fulfillment when I am doing those things. When I write, I feel energized. Changing decor in our home excites me even if it’s just putting out a fresh bouquet of flowers. I adore capturing raw moments of my boys on film and looking back relishing in the shots I captured. The moment I clean out a closet or toy bin, I feel like a new person.

I have many talented friends. I mean, all my friends are talented in some capacity. I have friends who are extraordinary photographers. Their pictures are breath-taking. Other friends have homes that should be featured in a magazine. Every time I walk in, I look around and see what ideas I can “borrow.” Just when I think I have implemented the best organizing technique, a friend posts something on Instagram and I realize how limited my capabilities are. Someone makes a meal for me and I feel completely inadequate.

I can easily fall into the rabbit hole of trying to be perfect. I can lose my passions when I realize I am not the best. I can get on Pinterest and realize there are so many people who are more talented than me. I can allow this train of thought to influence me to quit my life because I am not qualified. This is an easy road to head down: one of defeat and the desire to give up because you just aren’t good enough.

There is always going to be someone better. Miss America even has Miss Universe. What if instead of us trying to be THE best we try to be OUR best?

We were all uniquely designed with different passions. The world needs you to release them. If we get so caught up with being the best, we shrivel up into ourselves and lose the very things that make us extraordinary.

There’s a big difference between trying to be the best and working towards being our best. Once I realized that I will never be the best at anything, I let go of my expectations for myself. I decide that I will strive to be my best at each of my passions without worrying about the person in the lane next to me doing the same task. We both have something to offer. I rest my value in that.

Pinterest is no longer overwhelming. I can scroll through the beautiful pins and exquisite ideas confidently instead of feeling inadequate. I can utilize that tool to enhance my passions working towards my best. I am now energized and my spirit renewed in this space.

“Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12

Love & Blessings,
Meg