Hi, you. Yes, YOU. I know you messed up. But it’s ok. Everyone does. No one expects you to be perfect. God did not create you to be perfect, so perfection is not the goal (and it never will be!). If it was the goal, you could never achieve it, and if you were never able to achieve your goals, you wouldn’t be very happy with yourself.

I know a lot of people who go through life with an "I’m always right, I am the best, I will never mess up" mentality. But no one is perfect. We all make mistakes. That goal of perfection is admirable but impossible. You should never expect perfection from yourself. If you do, you will always disappoint yourself. If you think you will be perfect, you will end up feeling as if you have failed at everything you try to do, and will lose any sense of accomplishment. Always aim for your best but know that perfection is unachievable. No matter how hard you try, you will always make mistakes!

Many of us worry about a mistake we have made or may make in the future. But this is not what God wants for us (if you don’t believe me, just do a quick search for Bible verses about anxiety, and you’ll see what I’m talking about). We make mistakes, and we learn from them. We always do our best, but that usually means we WILL make mistakes. And that’s ok because so does everyone else. They don’t expect us to be perfect because they aren’t perfect either.

Perfection. An impossible goal that everyone seems to strive for, despite the fact that it is unachievable. Why do we expect so much from ourselves? We will be much happier if we just do our best and don’t put so much pressure on ourselves. We are all our own worst critic. Our mistakes are never as bad as we think they are.

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” — 2 Corinthians 12:9-10