Progress, not perfection, is what our journey is about. I often tell myself that but what I usually expect is perfection. And even though we all know that to be true at some level, we still expect ourselves to get it all right the first time and every time. From that I believe grows a nagging sense of constant failure and lingering sadness.
God calls us to be the best we can be. We are challenged to walk by faith and to trust that all things are working their way for our good. So that each day we need to draw a balance between doing our best and giving ourselves room to grow.
When Henry Ford made his first car he forgot to include a reverse gear. Was that a failure? His next car was the “Model T” which revolutionized transportation forever. He learned from his mistake and made something even better.
Each of us is in the process of becoming. We are building something very important. We are working on ourselves. But we will not be able to make a perfect model, only a better one. To do so we need to accept the loving and forgiving touch of God, and accept the fact that we are going to make mistakes along the way.
To live by faith is to interact with an imperfect world knowing that mistakes are part of the process and that we are called to higher ground. As we bring the brokenness of our lives before God we are pronounced forgiven in Jesus’ name. Let yourself hear those words the next time you are not perfect.
