Don't Be Perfect

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Proverbs 31:30 NIV

We've all heard about the Proverbs 31 woman. She is chaste, faithful, never tired, patient, hardworking, never angry, kids are perfectly behaved, house is immaculate, dinner on the table by 5, ....ok, I made some of that up, but you get my drift. The Proverbs 31 woman is perfect; in other words, she doesn't exist. I'm not perfect. Are you? Probably not. I get angry. I get tired. I hate to clean. I work full time too so why must the woman cook dinner?

Because today is Mother's Day we can make the case that perfect does not necessarily mean unflawed. It's the flaws and cracks in our pottery that make us unique and valuable. It means we have been tested, people have tried to break us but we didn't. We are standing tall with all our cracks fully exposed.

I used to feel inferior because I knew it was humanly impossible to live up to the ideal written in Proverbs 31. But now I understand that God knows we are not perfect. He doesn't call us to be perfect. He calls us to be made perfect in him and to use our story to inspire others. So don't be perfect. Expose your crocks and let others see how strong you are and how God can use you and me.