Short of Perfect

Super preggers--gimme a break

Dear Miss M,

You are my firstborn and I've given you love and given you orders and I've tried and failed and tried again to raise you according to His word in spite of my own sinful state.  

But there is one thing you need to know tonight.  I hear you crying in your room because you are stuck on an algebra problem set that's due tomorrow. You are only 11 and you want it all to be perfect, and I love that you constantly drive yourself to be the best you can be.  I've seen you in the zone, your brain on fire as you imagine things in three dimensions and come up with answers without knowing formulas.  You are an innovative thinker; you can focus and conceptualize and problem solve with a look on your face that makes me step aside and stay silent.

God's gonna use that one day.

We (meaning everyone but me) are a mathy people.

first district math competition--nailed it.

But this evening, dear child, I want to tell you something important:  there is no perfect apart from Christ. You're going to struggle with that fact because I surely have.  You desire perfection and push yourself to it--to the point of your tears--but, sweet child, we are broken people.  Broken. There will be days when you want "perfect" and you will have it right in hand, and you will celebrate.  But there will be other days when you shoot for perfect and fall short by a titch or sometimes by a million miles.  It will make you feel frustrated and you'll flail around trying to make it somehow different--but right now I want you to learn that sometimes you have to call it a day, pack it up, get on your knees, and ask God to bring you peace.

So give yourself a break.  Know that if you can't find the solution now, it will come to you later.  Or not.  But we see you and He sees you and we both know your heart.  Sometimes when you shoot for the best you're gonna hit it dead on and other days will end in disappointment. 

Those times, remember to stop and find rest in the only Perfect I've ever found.  

Mom's orders.

 "Casting all your anxieties on him, 

because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7