Hebrews 10:14 “For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”
The house was totally spotless and filled with sweet aroma. Windows were streak-free and not one dust-ball dared exist. Who wouldn’t want to buy this perfect house from the obviously perfect family living here?
With those thoughts, I closed my eyes to catch some precious sleep, aware the alarm would ring in a few hours to start our “perfect” day.
As the buzzer blared, our family of five leapt out of bed and the perfection of the night before quickly disappeared. A dysfunctional and chaotic scene emerged. One by one, half-clothed and half-asleep bodies stumbled into the garage, opened the hatch of the minivan, and tossed around items of clothing in search of something clean to wear. Elbows flung as we each claimed a garment in our size, threw it into the dryer to de-wrinkle, and dressed in lightening speed. Ordering others out of our way, we slammed the hatch, and a hungry, irritable family departed the very perfect house in a far from perfect demeanor.
I declare, never again will I put a house on the market! The stress of perfection is too much. With daily cleaning for five quickly getting out of control, I had ordered all laundry travel straight to the baskets in the back of my van. Until our house sold, in order to maintain a perfect house, I chauffeured our laundry (both clean and dirty) around with me everywhere I went.
Anyone looking at us from the outside would have observed a perfect life filled with order and harmony. No one would have guessed our real life was piled up in the back of that minivan: crumpled, disheveled, and completely out of control.
Oh, how we strive for perfection, all the while, on the inside we remain crumpled and messy. Skillfully, we hide the troubles in our marriages, our finances, our jobs, and our children until our energy is depleted from the whole facade and the stress of our pretense erupts.
Here is the good news, Sisters: It’s okay not to be okay. God made a plan. He sent His Son to be perfection for us. It is that Son, Christ Jesus, who knows our deepest secrets. It is through Him we find forgiveness when we fail, strength for our weaknesses, and grace to cover all. It is God who surrounds us with a family of His people who build us up as we reach out for encouragement and help. It is our Heavenly Father who longs for communion with us through prayer, offering His sweet peace.
When we find our lives in shambles, remember God knows we are not perfect. Instead, we are made to reach out to the One who is perfect and who longs to lovingly redeem us.
Father God, we praise you for loving us through our many imperfections.
Blessings,
Rita Cochrane