Perfection-Free Zone (1 Corinthians 13:10)

1 Corinthians 13:10 " . . . but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears . . ."

I used to get so frustrated when I looked at my home.  It was filthy.  It was worse than filthy in some respects. Cluttered, dirty, ugly.  When I'd clean, I'd be exhausted within fifteen minutes.  Why?  Not because of the mess, but because I was striving for something unattainable - perfection.  There was only one perfect being that ever walked the earth, and frankly, I'm not Him.

It took a while for me to see the problem with perfection.  It made me crazy.  I would clean, and turn around and it would be imperfect again.  I would throw my hands up and yell "what's the point?".  I fussed at my children, my spouse, myself.  I was miserable and so was everyone around me.  It was not until I finally realized that perfection wasn't going to happen that I was able to let go of this mindset.

I look around now at my imperfect home.  My floors are currently not vacuumed, swept, or mopped ( I will get to that later this week) but the floors are picked up and free from clutter.  My sink (due to a broken dishwasher) is currently filled with dirty dishes.  But my stove top, my counters, and even my appliances are clean. I have dirt behind the refrigerator, under the couch, behind the toilet.  But you can't see it.  It drives me crazy, to a point, to know that these imperfections are there, but then I think about my own imperfections in my sinful, human nature.

God doesn't seek perfection in us, why should we seek it in our own lives?  I am not perfect.  I am a sinner.  I try to do God's will, but sometimes it eludes me.  I forget to read my bible one day, I skip church services to sleep in, I yell at my children, I even say a choice word or two to idiots in my child's school car line.  God loves me anyway. So, I have to look at my home imperfections in the same way God looks at mine.  They're there, but forgivable. They exist, but they don't change the heart of my home.

I have deemed my home perfection-free.  I no longer seek perfection, but rather I seek "good enough".  If I'm good enough for God, with all of my imperfections, then my home should be good enough for me with all of its imperfections.