Plate Spinning, Juggling, And Letting Go of Perfection

Being capable and being perfect are not the same thing.

Did you know that? I’m not sure I did until this week. It’s so interesting that I felt God whisper “capable” to me as my word for 2014, and I assumed it was because of all the changes and challenges that 2013 brought our family. A reminder that He is capable to handle the emotional baggage that I carried with me over having our family walk such an unsettled path. And then the last few weeks happened and I could feel the enemy start to sneak into my thoughts.

You’ll never be good enough.

They don’t trust your abilities.

You’re nothing – they don’t even ask how you’re doing.

You just keep messing up.

You aren’t capable.

My heart has been heavy and my insecurities many as I’ve sought truth. And what God revealed to my heart through a conversation with a sweet friend is this: I’m capable. But I’m not perfect. And those two things are not the same. 

Capable means that I’m able to use the skills and talents and passions that God has given me to serve His kingdom the best I can while I’m here on earth. That I’m physically, mentally, and emotionally able to do what I can, where I can, how I can.

Perfect means I never make a mistake while I’m doing it. And that’s just never going to be possible on this side of heaven.

There will always be competing interests, deadlines, projects, chores, to-do lists, and responsibilities that fight for attention – and being capable as a mother, wife, sister, friend, co-worker, writer, online cheerleader – it means that somewhere in the juggle of it all something will always end up falling. It doesn’t make me “less,” and it doesn’t make me insignificant or unworthy of the path and blessings God has placed in my life. It means I’m human.

Maybe you’re in a similar season, feeling like it’s all going wrong while you know you’re more than capable? Can I share some encouragement with you, and some grace? Grab a seat and scoot a little closer so you can see how much I mean this when I say it – you ARE capable. But stop expecting perfection. Don’t let the enemy get one more finger around your heart to try to convince you to give it all up, to throw in the towel, to assume someone else can do it better. The only thing you need to give up is the unrealistic expectation that you can/should/will do it all, and do it perfectly.

We can’t.

One of those plates we have spinning, one of those balls in the air, one of the many…many…many to-do lists and constantly changing pieces of life – one of them will end up on the bottom of the pile. Unfinished. Imperfect. Messed up. But never beyond repair, never beyond God’s redemption, and never beyond grace. 

We are capable. But we are not perfect. And I think that maybe that might be just a small piece of the lesson God had planned for me this year.