Perfection

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Matthew 5:48

I have a RADlet that takes this verse very seriously. Well, I don't know if it actually has anything to do with this verse or not but she is extremely perfectionistic.

She was five when we adopted her and I can remember this sweet, talented, little girl coloring beautiful pictures then ripping them up and throwing them away. When I would stop her to ask why, she would yell at me something about how ugly they were and how she can't draw. Her Sunday School teacher even came to me to let me know that she would throw her papers away at church too.....every time she colored outside the lines.

She is very athletic as well but when we signed her up for soccer she cried if someone other than her scored a goal......even if that person was from her team! She felt like somehow she had failed if she was not the one to score.

Piano lessons were much the same way. She has a wonderful ear for music. But she is not very receptive to others telling her what she is doing wrong or how to improve. Somehow it is like an insult to her.

What a sad state to live in....feeling like it's your duty to be perfect and becoming angry every time you realize that you aren't anywhere near perfect.

She has come a long way but when she is nervous she reverts back to those tendencies. Control is her security blanket. She feels like if she can take control of the situation whatever it is she will be alright.

Right now she is nervous and today we had words. I stood toe to toe with my little RADlet and told her that she wasn't perfect, that she wasn't going to be perfect and that is why she needed Jesus. I told her that she was just like me.........a sinner and the only way to not feel like a miserable failure inside is to admit that you need a savior.........Jesus.

Other than our four year old, this RADlet is the only one of our children that hasn't made a decision for Christ. She understands all to well what it means for Jesus to be Lord or Boss of her life. She told me that she won't become a Christian because she doesn't want anyone to be the boss of her. When the Holy Spirit finally gets a hold of her she will be one kid on fire for Jesus.....until then we just pray for her.

Personally, I prefer these verses on perfection.

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

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses,

so that Christ's power may rest on me.

2 Cor. 12:9

[Pressing on Toward the Goal] Not that I have already obtained all this,

or have already been made perfect,

but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Phil. 3:12