Great Expectations

It's so easy for me to get caught up in doing this perfectly. Now, my daughter has inherited this from me and I'm forever telling her, "Can you do it perfectly? Who is the only perfect Person? Are you God? Okay, then don't freak about it not being perfect." *sigh* Easy to tell her, harder to learn for myself.

I know I can't do things perfectly, it's just that I always wish I could. I'm the one who thinks that if I can just keep all the plates spinning (Bible study, quiet time, meditation, prayer, Scripture memorization), that I'll somehow get the gold star from God. Pathetic, no?

The thing is, the Christian life isn't about doing all these things every single day. Maybe if I didn't have a husband, two children, or laundry...but the point is that I'm learning. Is it imperative that I complete my Bible study by a certain point? No, but it is important that when I do it, it's impacting my view of God and therefore my view of myself in relation to Him. Am I holier for spending all my thoughts on what I've been studying, or God's greatness? I could do that, but the point is to recognize God for His greatness, even if that's just thanking Him for the food overflowing my refrigerator. Is it necessary to spend hours in prayer? Although we are told to pray without ceasing (which, in my mind just means keep bringing your thoughts back to God throughout the day), the point is to learn about God through my prayer. Sure, there are those times when I hand Him my list of requests and sort of dash away with a, "If You could just take care of all of these things while I run my day, that'd be great!" But in reality, prayer is about recognition and response; recognizing who God is, and then responding to that appropriately. Am I doomed if I can't quite get my verses memorized by the end of the week like I want to? Nope. The important thing is that I'm taking the time to soak my mind in Scripture and let it change who I am.

I have all these great expectations, but the reality is, it's the learning along the way. Because, you know, there's only One who is perfect, and I'm not Him.