SUPER PERFECTIONIST AWAY!

Another Sophia moment from the Golden Girls strikes again. Picture it: 1994 (I think). Asked to prepare the obituary program of a dear friend’s mother, Super Perfectionist worked furiously on her Compaq 386 to give her friend a lasting memory. I arrived early at the church with the programs in hand, but within two minutes of relinquishing my love offering, the shrill of my friend’s second cousin’s voice blew it to pieces like a skeet obliterated in the sky. “What’s this!? She died before she was ever born!” Forget the fact that I worked off an antiquated computer which took forever to spell check, save and print. Or did I account for human error? It does happen. OH NO, not with Super Perfectionist!

I sprang into action. Actually, I snatched every program in sight (including the one in Cousin Ethel’s hand!). With little more than a half hour before the viewing, I used my transportation device to teleport home, correct the error, transport myself to the nearest copy center and back to the church with only Cousin Ethel and my friend the wiser. Well, okay, that’s not exactly true. I drove my Honda at break-neck speed and Cousin Ethel blabbed before I returned! When it was all said and done, human error worked on me like kryptonite, my soul weakness.

Why “soul” weakness? Although we want to offer our best, are we pleased with what we offer? Do we push ourselves all the harder even past the “after-it’s-over” moments? When others extend a well-deserved, first-rate compliment, do we use it as an opportunity to cover up our imperfections with the lie that we could have given more, given better.

God understands our need for a more excellent offering. He also knows how past rejection and abandonment issues can change the way we view ourselves in the offering. Our view gets skewed which makes the offering seem unacceptable. This perception produces the feelings associated with rejection and abandonment. Instead of acknowledging our weakness, we try harder to cover them up. We do better. We work more. We push and push. Do you see where this takes us? Spiraling out of control.

God sees you differently. Through His lens no one is perfect, but loved, forgiven, free. Though the Apostle Paul did not wrestle with perfection in this passage, the insight God gave him in 2 Corinthians 12:9 applies to the weakness with which we all struggle:

“…My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness..."

Human error, imperfections, they are all weaknesses of the soul. I have learned to hang up my Super Cape and laugh at such absurdities. I’ll never be perfect; don’t care to be. I know now I can be forgiven when I mess up and know true love embraces me when I fail. That’s the power of a perfect God. 

My challenge to you…

Recall a “Super Perfectionist” moment in your past that had a less-than perfect outcome. Were you hard on yourself for your “human error” or did you laugh at the absurdity?

Prayer…God, You alone are sufficient in weakness and in imperfection. Teach us to hang up a perfectionist's cape ill-fitted for a child of God. In this we pray. Amen.