I started a new job in January and pretty much set out to be perfect at it from day one. (Yes, you can laugh).

So when I messed something up this week I felt the weight of that expectation fall on my shoulders real heavy.

I thought that the “Hold yourself to a standard of GRACE not perfection” sign I had my best friend make for my office was a reminder to my students – (again, you can laugh). It is for me, every minute of everyday. Because these unrealistic expectations we place on ourselves? We expect perfection when its impossible. We are broken, imperfect people – reaching for an impossible standard.

I often feel this way as a Christian too – wow, kal, you just judged that girl for wearing leggings as pants (but really, people), you got jealous over tiny things, you didn’t speak kindly, you were impatient…etc. My list of imperfections is longer than my to-do list. We strive and we try and we try some more…for this illusive state of “perfect.” We want to please a God who doesn’t have that expectation of us.

So after my work screw-up, I went to the Lord and, as I am so many times, was surprised by His kindness when I expected disappointment. I heard Him say to me in that moment, “I died on the Cross so you don’t have to be defined by your screw-ups. You’re so much more than that. I never said you had to be perfect, I said you are my treasure.”

Hold yourself to a standard of GRACE, not perfection. Don’t put impossible pressures on yourself. Ask God what He thinks of you – He is so full of grace, and doesn’t make us feel less than because of our mistakes. He reminds us that He has already made us perfect in Him, we can stop trying so hard. This life isn’t about being perfect, it is about being HIS.

He did not die so you would chase perfection, He died so you would be HIS.