31 Days of Imperfection {Day 1}

One of my goals for 2012 was to do another “31 Days of…” series on my blog similar to the “31 Days of Hope“series I did October/November of 2010.  I’ve been contemplating the last few weeks what I might want to do it on.  For a while I was intently focused on the names of God and thought maybe that was it.  God’s also been teaching me A TON about the concepts of rest and Sabbath which would also  be a fun month-long adventure.  Yet, for some reason, I’ve landed on:

31 Days of Imperfection

Now, if you follow any other “31 days” posts from around the blogosphere, mine may seem a little out of place.  31 Days to an Organized Home, 31 Days of Living with Purpose, 31 Days to Change the World or even 31 Days to Building a Better Blog (maybe I should check that one out?)  What do you notice about all of these?  They’re focused on becoming better in some area … better in parenting, better in your relationship with God, better in hobbies or trades, better in life or making lives better.  So why in the world would I want to focus an entire month of my life to blogging about IMperfection?  Shouldn’t the goal be to become closer to perfect?

To be honest, I’m not sure how I came upon this focus, though it might have come out of another one of my goals for 2012: “to be okay with imperfect.”  You see, my personality is such that I want to do the best at everything I do, I strive to “give 110%” or “be all that I can be.”  While that’s generally not a bad thing, it can be.  Often, striving for perfection gets in the way of understanding grace.  As I set out on this 31 day journey to look at where I don’t live up to the standards I, or others, or even God, put out there for me, I pray that I experience (and express) GRACE in a more beautiful way than I could ever imagine.  I pray that as I allow myself to believe what my dad often told me: “sometimes done is better than perfect”, as I stop and recognize my limits, as I embrace the imperfect in my life, that I would have a greater appreciation for the One who never fails… the same One who “gives us more grace.” (James 4:6)  And above all, I pray that my eyes would be open to whatever God wants me to discover on this journey.

Will you join me as I explore 31 days of imperfection?