October 5

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)....It is to be by his working in us, and not by our working in ourselves, that this purpose of God in our creation is to be accomplished; and if it should look to some of us as though we are too far removed from the image of Christ for such a transformation to be possible, we must remember that our Maker is not done with us yet.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 9/21

At the Baby Shower for my second child I received a little plaque with these words printed on it: “Be patient with me, God isn’t done with me yet”.  At first I thought it referred to the baby that was growing inside me, but then I began to worry that my friend meant it for me.  I should have felt relief that my friend seemed to be saying she recognized she needed to be patient with me, but instead I felt mortified that she might think I wasn’t already perfect!  That was how caught up I was in perfectionism.  I was so driven to be perfect that even my thoughts had to be perfect!  Of course, this was all ego driven.  I can see that now.  That is why it disturbs me when I see someone trying to be perfect.  I know the inner turmoil they are experiencing.  I also know now it’s in experiencing freedom from Self, day-by-day, that I am being conformed to His image.  Those of us who strive to be perfect have the cart before the horse!

“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren.”  Romans 8:29