Perfection is the Biggest Lie We Believe

The other day as I was aimlessly scrolling through social media, I was hit with a feeling that I'm sure you too have felt at some point. The feeling of imperfection. We often feel this way while looking at others' lives and seeing qualities in them that we wished to see in ourselves. In our minds, that equates to us not being good enough.

It catches us off guard as we scroll various social media platforms. What we see are perfect families, with perfect parents and children. All we notice are the smiles from ear to ear and a caption of how blessed they are for their perfect little family. Just like that, we are reminded of our imperfection. The thing we often don't remember though is what's actually the most valuable lesson.

The truth that perfectionism is a down right lie, and it doesn't exist outside of Jesus.

We are all imperfect people, with imperfect children and families. We have stories that go much further than the surface of what is seen.

The Family Photo Scam

As a wife and mom of four, I know the truth behind these photos. We have put together a color scheme and more often than not we have told them exactly what to wear. Even for a lenient mom like myself, I have given them at most a couple different options to choose from. Us moms have written up lists of what everyone can and cannot do during these photos. No crying, no weird faces, no awkward smiles, and most importantly no picking noses. Prior to heading out of the house, we have spent all morning prepping.  We are brushing and styling hair, steaming out all the wrinkles in clothes, reminding our husbands to play along with our madness, and lastly, bribe bribe bribe! These photos are highly staged and far fetched from an accurate depiction of what the family dynamics are.

The Massive Following Scam

I cannot emphasis this enough, one person with hundreds of thousands of followers is no better or more perfect than someone who has five. Everyone's stories from behind the scenes are the same. All of our lives are the same. The part that baffles me the most though is that our insecurities are also the same. No matter the amount of followers, we all live crazy lives, with crazy stories, and have crazy families. 

The Truth Behind the Scenes

I love my husband! He is truly an amazing man! We have been married for over 8 years now. A lot of people have seen our love, but only close friends knew how hard our marriage was for the first couple years. We were over tired, we didn’t have much money, we were still getting to know each other, and it  took a lot of time to work through the brokenness of each of our pasts. As for our four girls, we love them dearly! They are special in their own unique ways! What most people don’t see though is how irritated we get when they color on the walls, break tools we need for our jobs, or when they decide to cut their hair just for fun. And for my friends, they are pretty amazing humans! What nobody ever sees though is the heartache that we have accidentally caused each other at times.

Life Isn’t Perfect

As much as we want to have what we think others do, we don’t really know what battles they face behind the facade of perfectionism.So before you get ready to beat yourself up, you can rest in the truth that perfection is a lie.