As I stood over the bowls of cereal that I poured for breakfast for the 4th time that week, I looked around my house and saw the mess that wasn’t cleaned up from the night before. Dishes piled high in the kitchen sink, toys that I didn’t make the kids pick up littered the floor, a bra still laid on the couch from when I took it off that same night. I decided then that I can’t do it all perfect and I’m okay with it.
It’s a juggling act that I perform everyday and drop the balls one at a time. I’m trying to keep my husband’s love tank full, support and help him run a business and my own. I love, feed, and take care of my kids. I shuffle them around to their practices, games, and competitions. I’m educating them to to the best of my ability. Not to mention trying to keep house.
None of this is done perfectly and it’s okay.
It’s Okay If-
- My house doesn’t look like Joanna Gaines lives here.
- My kids have cereal for breakfast sometimes ( and maybe supper occasionally, no judgments here, ok).
- We only get to our read aloud for school that day.
- I don’t have a perfect school room ( or no school room at all, actually).
- My kids look like they’ve been living on the side of the road when we go to town.
- I look like I belong on Hocus Pocus some days.
- I’m not a perfectly, sweet Duggar type mom.
- My laundry has piled up to the size of Mt. Everest and I’m afraid if I ever go in I might never come out.
- My dog has become my under the table vacuum.
Can a Woman Really Do It All Perfectly?
Or, is it an idealistic perfectionism that we all try to attain and fail miserably in the process? Can we master all things and do them all perfectly perfect? I can’t.
We women feel like we are constantly on trial. We are judged by how well our kids behave and perform, how we look, how our house looks, whether we stay home or work away from home. A lot is expected of us and we’re being judged by a very partial jury.
Related: Stay At Home Wives and Mothers, Are You Wasting Your Life?
A Culture of Perfection
Ever since I became a mother, I’ve been bombarded with the mentality of perfection. Our culture screams perfection at us from every angle. Social media, television, books, blogs.
We see these people with perfect homes, perfect marriages, perfect kids, perfect jobs, and it’s all perfectly put together as they go about their perfectly active social lives.
We look at these women who look like they have it all together, and think “I’m a hot mess. What is wrong with me?” However, we fail to remember that these social images are just snippets of their lives. Just a split second of a 24 hour day. The backstory of their perfect Instagram photo was a hot mess, just like me.
We Can Do Everything Through Him Who Gives Us Strength
The bible tells us in Phillipians 4:13 that ” [I] can do everything through him who gives [me] strength.”
I can’t do it all perfectly perfect on my own, but I can do it all through him who gives me strength.
God wants the very best for us and has great plans for us. Prayer is a very important weapon we moms have and most of us probably don’t use it enough. God can give us the grace to handle all the stresses that come our way daily and release us from the burden of perfectionism. All we have to do is ask.
Final Words
When I say I’m okay with not being able to do it all, I don’t mean it doesn’t still bother me. It does. But, I’ve realized over time that I have to set my priorities in order and I can’t worry myself sick over things that doesn’t make an eternal difference. I still try my best and you should, too. Just don’t beat yourself up over all the little things that make you feel perfect because perfection will never be attained. There was only one who was perfect.
