The Sin of Perfectionism

You spent hours practicing a song for a recital.  You sang it correctly except for one note which, in your opinion, was slightly flat, or maybe it was sharp either way it was off key.  No one could tell the difference but you.  You knew.  As you reflect on the recital, you don’t hear the compliments from the people who came and enjoyed a lovely concert because all you can hear in your head is one wrong note.  It’s the note of perfectionism.  The sharp sound that says, "not good enough."

You painted a room.  It was the perfect shade of blue-gray.  Everyone who saw it praised your work, telling you how beautiful it looked.  But you, you know that you ran out and could not get the exact color, so it’s a slightly different tint.  No one can honestly tell but every time you walk into the room you see a tint failure.  It wasn’t perfect. 

Perfectionism always says,” you’re not good enough, you failed,” even when the job was done beautifully to others, perfectionism still looks for the flaws.

Perfectionism is pride in its purest form.  It puts you in place of God.  After all, He is the only one who is truly perfect. 

The problem is that even if you do something correctly, or at least better than others there will always be someone who can do it better.  It forces you to become critical of yourself and others.  You can’t let yourself be good enough, and you don’t want others to be good enough either.  

Perfectionism often keeps people from trying anything new.   Despite everything, you might not be perfect at it, so you don’t try to do it.  

 Very few people start out perfect, we have to work at it and sometimes we fail. I am a writer but if I compare myself to C.S. Lewis, Tedd Dekker, or Hemingway, I will never measure up.  However, when I look at my work I see progress and while I may never achieve the greatness of other prolific writers, I know my work is the best that it can be and I know God is pleased with it.

Does God want you to do your best?  Absolutely!  Is he pleased with your hard work? Definitely!  But he also knows that you are not perfect.  God is pleased with our work in spite of the imperfections.  He knows your/ my heart.

Like a parent who puts their child’s amateurish picture on the refrigerator because it is perfect to them, God looks at us and our work and sees perfection when we have done our best and if God is happy, we should be happy as well.