Perfection Does Not Exist*

I've thought about this post for quite sometime now. I would be comfortable saying that I've thought about it for almost a year now. I think that this is a message that constantly needs to be said, and women constantly need to hear it.

                                                    Perfection Does Not Exist.*

This is plain and simple. It's a phrase that I've repeated to myself one too many times, and yet I still fall to the trap of perfectionism. I understand it. I'm a 20 year old girl. I'm self-conscience about more than I should be. With age, I wish I could say it gets better. Now that I'm in college, I'm not only self-conscience about the way that I look, but I'm self-conscience about grades, social standing, money, work, friends, religion...the list goes on. You discover more about yourself and those around you, which leads to you discovering more that you're self-conscience about.

I read an article for my Psychology class earlier this week, and it had me completely in tears. It was a study that talked about college-age women and their strive for perfection and how they literally can deteriorate from the constant effort for something that will never exist. I wish it were easy to come to the understanding that I am God's princess and I'm very beautiful....Which is the truth, but it's not reality. You will run into things multiple times a day that can hurt you. As I'm writing this post, I'm listening to the song "Flawz" by Caitlin Crosby and I'm crying at how true the song is. She is a beautiful song-writer and Godly woman who put every girl's feelings into words.
  

                                                        "All my flaws to see

                                                  But you still love, love me

                                                        You still love me"

This is the simple chorus of the song, and yet it is still so powerful. We all have flaws. Caitlin mentioned some of hers in the verses of the song. I think that the point is that we have to accept we have flaws. We should't forget them, we should recognize that they're there, and we should love them. There is no such thing as human perfection, but God takes our flaws and uses them for His glory. 

"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 NIV

Our flaws are our weaknesses. Do you see what Paul is writing there? Jesus himself told Paul that His power is made perfect in WEAKNESS! His power is made perfect even with our FLAWS! To anyone who may be reading this, know that you are SO beautiful. We are all created in God's image (Genesis 1:27) and we are all fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). We shouldn't view our weaknesses and flaws as a bad thing, rather, we should learn to accept them because The Almighty Father accepts them, and uses them. 

So, sisters in Christ, we should stop striving for perfection. It just isn't going to happen. It's humanly impossible. The reason I put a star on the title is because perfection does exist, just not with humans. God is perfect. The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit are perfect. We are not because we are humans and we are born with original sin (Psalm 51:5). Instead of striving and straining ourselves with society's distorted image of "perfection" we should embrace our flaws and let Christ use them to His power and glory. Remember that no matter what you do, and no matter how many flaws you may have, God loved you before you born, He loves you now, and He will love you until the end of time.

That, my sisters, is the perfectness that I focus on. 

In His Forever & Always,

Cassandra