Still developing

Last week in Sunday school one of my cutest friends made a comment.  We were discussing perfection, and she shared that the scripture Matthew 5:48 "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect" has a footnote.  The Greek definition of this word "perfect" is complete, finished or fully developed. She said, "I'm kind of a perfectionist by nature so I  get stressed out by this scripture, but after reading and understanding the footnote I decided I need to just calm down!"  She made me laugh, but she also brought peace to my soul.

I remember watching a home movie of a teenage family friend.  In this movie he was 18 months old.  He was trying to put a darling yellow sweater on.  He put one arm through, finally got the other arm and discovered it was upside down.  He took it off and tried again.  He struggled and struggled and never gave up.  As I watched this movie I was dying from the cuteness and crying at the earnestness of this baby.  It occurred to me, maybe this is how God feels when he watches us struggle.  We're just babies, doing our best, making mistakes but never giving up.  He adores us and is pleased by our efforts.

I don't expect my 3 month old to know how to walk or my 3 yr. old to know how to read, or my 10 year old to be ready to drive.  When they do learn these things I know they won't be perfect at first.  That's why they have a thing called "reading level."  They're developing.

I'm developing too.   So when I turn the wrong burner on and wonder why my water won't boil, or push the button to open the trunk instead of unlock the car, or run upstairs to do something and do something else and run down only to remember and have to run upstairs again, or get the wrong time, or address, or date, no worries, I'm just developing.

Now, for the application to life.  I spend some time stressing myself and my kids out with my striving for (obsessing over) perfection.  Are we studying enough, practicing enough, working enough, serving enough, striving enough...?  Basically, I'm saying, "Fully develop faster!"  My daughter shared some wisdom with me.  She is the choir accompanist  at our church.  During choir practice a week before the performance I noticed she had made some errors.  In the days following, she diligently, but not frantically, practiced the piano.  The day of the performance I observed that we had some spare minutes. Focusing on the errors in my memory I urged, "You'd better practice a few more times."  She calmly replied, "I'll gladly practice, but I've found that if I obsess over perfection and worry about making mistakes, music loses the spirit and the joy.  Don't worry about me, Mom, it will be fine."  And it was.  This girl is definitely developing.

So, back to the original observation.  I just need to calm down!