The Pursuit of Perfect

It started out as one of those mornings.

I overslept because needing “five more minutes” turned into a blissful, perfect-way-to-start-the-day twenty-five minutes of sleep. It all went downhill from there.

I had to take a quick shower, slap on some deodorant, throw on clothes that were not wrinkle-free, pull together a lunch no one would eat, and run out the door to my car. Luckily my car was inside a garage, so I didn’t have to scrape the windshield. As I zipped down the dirt road on which I live, I couldn’t remember if I had shut the garage door; putting the car in reverse, I barreled backward toward my house. I am not a great backer-upper, so doing this was quite nerve-racking. Oh, and did I mention I live over half a mile from a paved road? Yep, double the fun! When I finally reached my garage door, it was indeed closed. I may have mumbled some not-so-nice words about my brain power, or lack thereof, as I sped once again down my dirt road. I arrived at work much later than I normal; my coworkers had been wondering if I was coming to work at all.

I probably should have taken the day off, because I certainly did not feel well.

After that morning, the day had to get better, right? Not so. Going into a classroom of twenty-plus students with a frazzled mind and a tense body doesn’t bode well for a teacher. I scrambled to find organization on my usually organized table. Of course, I couldn’t get the school-wide morning announcements to cast from my computer. And my computer? Well, it decided that it needed a day off.

All before 9 a.m.

As I took my students to an enrichment class, which meant a much-needed break for me, I thought about the rest of my day. I certainly cannot continue in this state of chaos. I will lose my already tenuous grasp on sanity if something doesn’t change. I walked back to my classroom, dreading the work I would have to do to try to salvage what was already feeling like a very long day.

As I stepped into my classroom, a thought came to my mind. I was allowing my morning to have too much power over the rest of my day. I was focused on getting everything to run smoothly. I was caught up in what wasn’t going right instead of what was going right.

I was trying to squeeze perfect out of an imperfect situation.

All the scrambling, fussing, and tension did not accomplish anything positive. The many times I mentally slapped my forehead with my hand did not make things happen any more smoothly. My thoughts concerning my general lack of worth did not make me feel any better.

I had to accept the fact that there will be days that are just imperfect, and this was one of them.

I know this may sound like a simplistic a-ha moment, but it made a huge difference to me. Instead of dwelling on all the things that had happened prior to my arrival at work, I made a mental note to try really hard not to hit the snooze button again on a another morning. Instead of focusing on the fact that I had very little prep time for the day, I decided to take a little extra time at the end of the day to get ready for the next one. Instead of beating myself up for the way the morning had unfolded, I gave myself some grace and came face-to-face with an astounding fact: I am not perfect.

Not one of us is.

When I turned my eyes away from the pursuit of perfect, something amazing happened: I actually salvaged my day. We had fantastic times of learning, communicating, and listening. The rest of the day flowed as it should, and the absence of my temperamental computer actually enhanced what we were able to accomplish. I was a much more relaxed teacher; so much so, in fact, that I adopted a new mantra: We would pursue our own level of perfection imperfectly!

While it made a great difference in my professional life, applying that mantra to my everyday life has greatly reduced my desire to reach perfection. When we realize that giving our best is our own brand of perfection, the stress of getting everything just right becomes much less.

Though I am not perfect, I know one who is. Jesus Christ, our Savior, lived on earth as a man. He lived at a time when the world had a lot of crazy stuff happening, just like today. Even surrounded by ideas and activities that did not honor God, Jesus himself stayed pure, he was perfect, if you will. He was tempted by Satan in the same ways we are (tempted to focus on his physical needs, pride, and desire for material things), yet Jesus did not sin (Luke 4:1-11 NIV). Jesus provided an example of perfection, but nowhere in Scripture are we told we are expected to achieve his perfect life. We are simply told to be imitators of Christ (Phil. 2: 5-8 NIV), and to try our best to emulate Jesus in our day-to-day actions, thoughts, and words.

We know that we will never be perfect. Instead, we live out our imperfect pursuit of Jesus’ perfection. And that’s close enough to perfect for me.

Anita Fessler is a wife, mom, and Bible study teacher, who loves to cook, write and make music. She and her husband have two grown sons who come home to NC often, bringing their special sweetheart girls with them. You can follow her at https://anitafessler.wordpress.com/ or on social media at https://www.facebook.com/beverywellfed.