2 Corinthians 12:9-10
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
A couple months ago, I burned water. Like, in a pot. I burned water that I was supposed to use to for steaming veggies… I. Burned. Water.
One of my favorite songs as a teenager was His Grace is Sufficient. It was written directly from the above scripture. I’ve known that verse and what comes after it for, oh, 20 years? And yet here I am in my mid-30s, still thinking I’m “perfect” enough to do it all. Maybe I don’t say those words out loud like my grandfather used to, but I certainly act it … when I berate myself for losing my temper, when I dwell on a disrespectful moment of mine, when I don’t forgive myself for a mess-up.
I could theorize for days about why it’s so much harder to be harder on ourselves than it is to go easy on ourselves. Or why it’s so easy to forget that we literally and metaphorically cannot be perfect.
We can’t be perfect physically.
We can’t be perfect mentally.
We can’t be perfect emotionally.
We can’t be perfect spiritually.
And when we put pressure on ourselves to be perfect, we fail. A hundred times over, we fail. And we forget that we’re given grace for the moment, we’re given grace for our insufficiencies. We are born with a clean slate and we are born with insufficiencies. This is the way it’s supposed to be.
I can use my “failure moments” to remind myself that when I fail at doing and saying everything perfectly, I’m doing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing. (A little haha there, a little serious.)
When I am weak in myself, I can lean on the strength that is the creator of the universe (Father).
When I am weak in myself, I can lean on the strength that is the savior of humankind (Son).
When I am weak in myself, I can lean on the strength that is my daily gut check (Holy Spirit).
What does that look like, practically speaking?
In parenting:
- don’t dwell on momentary mistakes
- don’t correct my child at every turn
- don’t call it a bad day when it was a bad 15 minutes
In marriage:
- don’t dwell on momentary mistakes
- say sorry & mean it
- lead by example, and when I mess up do the above
In my daily grind:
- all of the above, especially … all of them.
For His grace is sufficient for me. His greatness, His excellence, His majesty, can be best shown when I step out of my own way and not be so hard on myself and graciously allow myself to be imperfect.
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