I’m not perfect. I’ve never claimed to be, but I am a perfectionist. Ironic, right? And an element of perfectionism is trying to control something that you don’t necessarily have control over. You can try really hard to get it as close to perfect as you possibly can, but it won’t ever quite be perfect.

I know that we live in a world where promises are just words, and results are performance. The world tells us that we need to perform and how we perform gives us value and informs us on how we can contribute to the world. And again we find ourselves looking to others to tell us who we are and if we have value based on what we can produce. We get down on ourselves when we think we don’t meet others’ expectations of who we should be, what we should be doing, and how we should be doing it.

The one thing that we often overlook is that we are imperfect people which by nature guarantees imperfect outputs or results. This is a truth that people are determined to beat and prove wrong, and in the process beat themselves up for not meeting those expectations of perfection. But what they don’t realize is that there is beauty in imperfections. If we were all perfect in everything that we did, how we look and act, then life as we know would be boring.

Your imperfections do not make you invaluable; it makes human. It makes you perfectly flawed. And the imperfections and flaws are what makes each of us unique and beautiful.

God was intentional when he created you:

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” –Psalms 139:13-14

No one can love the world and meet its deepest need the way that God created you to.

When you look in the mirror love and embrace your flaws because that’s what makes you…you. And that is perfect.