one million ways

"There is no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one."  -Jill Churchill


This quote is universal because it applies to all of us: parents, siblings, cousins, extended family titles, students, teachers and friends.  Any word that describes someone can be substituted for the word "mother" in this quote.  So if you're reading this, the message is applicable to you wherever you are in your walk of life right now.  


This quote got me to thinking that sometimes we are too hard on ourselves.  Well, let me just speak for myself.  Sometimes most times I am too hard on myself.  Too tough, too critical and too demanding in my personal expectations.  While there is absolutely nothing wrong with setting healthy goals in the form of boundaries and discipline, it is inappropriate to demand or expect perfection simply because perfection (the idea of getting it all right all the time) from a human standpoint does not exist.  


When I re-read the underlined sentence, I realized that I totally understand this on a mental level; however the revelation has yet to penetrate my heart.  So here I am today: erasing the idea of perfection from my mind, my checklist and my inner vocabulary because the trade off sounds so rich: "millions of ways to be good".  Are the odds in my favor or what? 


We all know that searching for something that isn't real is just plain foolish.  Yes? Yes.
So today I am slaying my pursuit of perfection and accepting the reality that my best is good enough.  I just sent my inner critic packing, decided to fully embrace all the good that is and face the future full of hope and possibility.  Today let's focus on the good that we can do in millions of ways.  Send perfection packing.  Let's agree to do our best and trust God to do the rest.