[Image by Chance Agrella @ Freerangestock.com]
Years ago, I went into Barnes & Noble looking for something in particular—I can’t even remember what—and I happened to pass the Christian section. This one little book sort of leaped out at me. My hand went straight for it on the shelf, even though I knew absolutely nothing about it. The book was called Work in Progress: An Unfinished Woman’s Guide to Grace, written by Kristin Armstrong, who is a writer, a runner, a mom, and Lance Armstrong’s ex-wife.
I don’t reread many books, but I find myself returning to this one from time to time. It’s all about the futility of striving for some imagined, unattainable perfection instead of accepting our unique gifts and using them as God intended:
"When we try to be and do the things that are outside our true selves, we turn into strivers. Strivers are people who endlessly struggle for perfection and end up with far less than good enough. . . . Good enough means being able to accept who and where we are with grace and gratitude and being content with ourselves as works in progress. Being good enough ensures possessing enough humility that God is pleased. We know we can’t make it on our own or by using our old methods, so we go to the Source. In this way, the more we go to God and experience the steadfastness of His promises, our confidence builds. Not confidence in ourselves, but confidence in an almighty God."
The notion of “good enough” is a powerful one. I know a whole lot of people—women in particular—yours truly specifically—who need to embrace it. I remember a telephone conversation with my mother a while back. I had agreed to do way too much—commitments to friends and family and church—and wailed to my mother, “I just can’t DO all of this!!!!” And she calmly said, “Of course you can’t. So decide what you CAN do and let the rest go.”
So many times, I think we set ourselves up to feel inadequate. And if I’m honest with myself, my own feelings of inadequacy usually come from comparing myself to other people—whose gifts and limitations have absolutely nothing to do with mine, so why do I do that? Or maybe I’m comparing my current self to my younger self and focusing on the weight I need to lose or the roots I need to touch up (instead of the smarts I’ve gained and the much broader perspective I have).
We’re all works in progress. We’re all unfinished. And when we freely offer God whatever gifts we've been given, those gifts are good enough. We're good enough to "approach God's throne of grace with confidence."