{© hazelnut cottage, jan avellana}
“the perfect is the enemy of the good.” ~voltaire
there comes a point for this perfectionist, when saying “it’s good enough” is an act of spiritual surrender. when tweaking that thing just one more time isn’t an option any more, when exhaustion sets in from banging my head against the wall for the umpteenth time so that i get it “right”. it’s the point of realizing (newsflash) that God is really God and i am not.
perfection doesn’t matter. getting it right doesn’t matter. (unless you are doing delicate brain surgery or calculating sufficient oxygen levels for astronauts or something of that magnitude.)
i am learning to let myself wander towards joy. yes, joy. i am learning and skinning my knees in the process—that the pursuit of perfection is my insecurity trying to gain acceptance and love from everybody. because if i do things perfectly, THEN i’ll be accepted and loved. and this, we all know, is the beginning of insanity. it is impossible to please everyone all of the time. it is futile to gain a sense of well being based largely on what others think about you (by this i mean, me).
no, no. there is a better way. i am learning all these lessons all over again. that Jesus loves me. that my Heavenly Father delights in me. that He belly laughs over me with joy. that when i enter into that joy, it is right and good and i can trust myself to let me love what i love and be secure in myself and in my God. and that i can choose to create art from this place of joy, instead of from a place of fear and worry and lack. and so can you. and so can we all.
