Leila is hosting the online book study of "Behind Those Eyes" by Lisa Whittle that I am a part of.
Chapter 2 of Behind Those Eyes deals with Ms. Perfection. Oh, she is someone I have usually always felt so far removed from. That I never could measure up to her! Other women, yes, who were beautifully dressed and manicured and coiffed....who said just the right things at the right time, spoke kindly and thoughtfully to others, kept their homes spotlessly clean, etc...those women were perfect and in my view, there were a lot of them out there, but I wasn't one of them.
But I remember once a friend I admired at church who I thought was perfect (I had heard she mopped her kitchen floor and vaccumed her whole house every day while still holding down a full-time job outside the home, and that fact alone (the mopping/vaccuming) made me think she was perfect!) tell me that her husband told her that she was damaging her pre-teen children by yelling at them and expecting them to do all sorts of household chores exactly the way she wanted it done and that there was a lot of dissention in their home at that time....wow it really made me open my eyes to seeing that other women I had deemed 'perfect' really were not, even if I thought they looked like they were beautiful and said the right things and had it all together.
I liked in Chapter 2 what Tiffany said "Peace does not come from pleasing others, but from obeying God".
It is just too exhausting to try to be what you think is perfect. I prefer real, warts and all!
I was telling my husband about this online study this morning and about the chapter of Ms. Perfection. He said "Jesus said, my yoke is easy and my burden is light"...and that is truth. It struck me that Jesus isn't looking for perfection, He is looking for us to cast everything onto Him, casting all of our cares, and He doesn't make us jump through all the hoops just to be accepted by Him.
7 comments:
Love the title of your post. I so relate to this post. there are those who I believed were perfect and I used their perfection as a way to torture myself. I would eventually learn I was wrong and they were also imperfect.
You are so right Kelly in preferring to be real warts and all. I realized a while ago that it takes so much more energy to try to be someone else than it take to be yourself.
Praise God for Jesus and the mirror of His word that we can look in and see ourselves as He sees us, covered in His righteousness.
See you as you walk down the real road.
Blessings,
Vickie
Hi Kelly,
I loved that post. You have to be you and I have to be me. GOD made one of us at this moment in time for HIS purpose - to glorify and magnify HIM in whatever way each of us does that.
It is so freeing to be real. Even when others don't understand because they haven't found the satisfaction in a Father that loves them for who they are, I still have to be the real me!
I'm glad we all want that. If we are busy being "the perfect woman at church" we are AWOL for GOD!
Love and prayers,
Teri
Kelly,
1st let me say I love the picture at the top of your blog just makes me want to take a lounge chair, a tall glass of sweet tea, and a book and go sit and relaz. I pray that people see me as real with my all my warts. Thanks for an insightful post.
Your right, He is asking us to cast it all on Him. What a great reminder! Enjoyed your post!
In His Graces~Pamela
Kelly I enjoyed your post, perfectly manicured and coifed, is not only tiring it's time consuming. I want to spend my time and energy on God.
Kelly,
Thank you for sharing about how your perceptions of someone else's perfection impacted you. Thank you for sharing your insights in this post!
I prayed for you tonight by name!
Lisa :)
Post a Comment