You Don't Have to Be Perfect

You're too hard on yourself. I see the mental list of everything you think you should have done better today, the words you regret saying, the house that didn't turn out the way you planned, the body that isn't what you'd like it to be. That inner pressure never lets up, and it wears you out more than any outward task.

My son, my daughter, I never asked for perfection. I asked for your heart, your walk with me, your willingness to try again when you fail. The perfection you chase is a standard I don't even require of you — it was you yourself, or the world around you, who set that impossible bar.

My grace is sufficient for you today, just as you are, with today's flaws and yesterday's too. You don't have to be perfect to be loved by me. Rest from that pressure now, and receive the way I look at you — with tenderness, not demand.