You may not be "perfect", but your definitely good enough!

Ever felt like anything and everything you do just isn't "good enough"? I know I sure have. I think it's really interesting how other peoples standards effect ours so much. I'd like to think of myself as a very strong willed person. I know what things I like, what things I don't like. I am aware of the things that make me feel happy and aware of the things that make me tick. In most cases I make conscious decisions to accommodate my likes and dislikes. But then there are those times where consciously or not, something that someone says or does really messes with me. Maybe I thought I was doing a great job with a project and then someone close to me says "I think I would have done this or that". Really? Because personally I thought I was doing awesome...guess not. Then that person starts to give you suggestions on how they can "make it better". In most cases, the other is person really is just trying to be helpful. But somewhere, at least deep inside of me, I like to feel like I can do it on my own. I think we all have that desire to be the best person we think we can be. When someone else threatens that sense of accomplishment it hurts. And it's not just men that feel the need to be in charge. As a female, I absolutely love it when a man takes the lead on something...but other things I really want to tackle on my own! I don't constantly want to hear that I should have approached something differently. Actually when I end up not doing as well as I would have liked to, I can come to the conclusion on my own as to why I didn't do so hot. But ask yourself this question, has God ever said to you that your not good enough? Nope, he sure hasn't! So why the heck do we care so much about what others think?

I struggle to understand why we all can't agree with each other on certain things. There is a "right" way and a "wrong" way to raise your child. But is there really? I mean obviously it's bad to teach your child that murdering someone is OK, but I feel like that's just common sense. (at least I hope so) But I honestly can't say that one style of parenting is better than the others. I think it's important to look at each child on an individual basis. Some children simply respond better to certain styles of parenting than others. But even with that being said, I also believe it's important to teach every child some basic standards to abide by. The thing is, God has already given us that standard in the form of the Ten Commandments. God also said that none of us is perfect and that we will ALL fall short at some point. The awesome news is that God's grace takes care of our mistakes.

I think it's time to start setting our standards to align with God's standards. I feel like the judgement we all place on each other, weather we realize we are doing it or not, really holds us back. Because we are so focused on if the person next to us approves of what we are doing, we are not living up to our full potential. Not only that, when we are too hard on ourselves we begin to think that anything we try to do can't be good enough. But if we are all living by a different set of standards, how can we possibly know for sure who is right or what is best? God doesn't judge us or look at us differently when we do something that he doesn't approve of. He never changes. I feel like aligning our standards with a never changing standard can't possibly go wrong. How can it? If a person messes up and sins, they know exactly what needs to be done to correct it. But if we are trying to correct our mistakes according to the person next to us, we will never know if what was done is actually correct. Why? Because there is a person next to the first guy you turned to for advice telling that guy he's the wrong one, so now you have two people telling you the "right" way when all the while your still confused as to why your "wrong" See how it might be difficult to judge who's right or wrong? With God it's already been layed out in front of you. He has told us all what is OK and what isn't. Realistically it shouldn't be that hard to determine the right thing to do. But because the people around us have such an influence on who we are, it becomes very difficult to align our standards with God's. So when your dad tells you constantly your not good enough, you start to believe him. But God doesn't play that way. He will never tell one of his children they aren't good enough for him. His love doesn't change, we do. Personally, I hope to grow up and make a change for my God and not my dad. I hope to always set my personal goals and achievements to please my creator and not my friends. I hope that my standards can one day align fully with God's standards!