pursue excellence...

Pursue Excellence, Not Perfection. 

WHOAH. Did that just hit you over the head as hard as it hit me? I’m a perfectionist, it is true; and if I ever doubted the resounding truth of that statement - well, let’s talk about the deep and ridiculous feelings of failure that haunt and plague me. If you battle the fear of failure friend, you probably strive (with every darn ounce) toward perfection. It’s ok to admit it - there is grace here. SO MUCH GRACE (truly, I’m really good at giving it to other people, it’s myself I seem to starve from the beautiful and life-giving nectar). 

Here’s the thing. If we are striving for perfection, even excellence is failure. How utterly depleting and emptying. I was talking to one of my dearest friends on the phone yesterday about CHOSEN and my heart for the teens and ways we could make club better and my mind started going a million miles a minute. I am undoubtedly passionate and I love what we are doing with CHOSEN. I also want club to be profound and significant and leave a lasting impression on these students. I want so much more than merely fun. As I started to talk faster and faster I took one breath  and had to stop. LITERALLY STOP. Because I was headed for failure town. I was headed to a city where all the stop signs SCREAM about how you’re not enough and your efforts are in vain. But CHOSEN is a brand new club that didn’t even exist 2 years ago and it is amazing that we have 24 foster teens who come to club and get loved on and hear about Jesus. That is excellent. THAT IS ENOUGH. And yes, together we will keep seeking Him and asking Him how He would have us to grow, but we can’t allow ourselves to accept perfection as His standard because that is not what He requires. We cannot ONLY be proud of ourselves when we achieve perfection because then we will NEVER get to cheer or rejoice or join in the celebration of the great work He is doing. 

We are all part of the fall. We are utterly and completely human. We will NEVER reach perfection and striving is exhausting. But He gives us heaps of grace and we can claim the strength of the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives, and in that we can be excellent. And the best part - at the end of this long road He will say to us “well done my good and faithful servant”. Well done - He never promised He would call us perfect anyway, so why the heck are we trying?!