Artful Spirituality

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Perfectionism hurts your soul

BREAKING NEWS:

Perfectionism hurts your soul.

You are already perfect in the eyes of God.

You don’t have to attain some unrealistic ideal.

You are already here.

PERFECTIONISM IS A TRAP!

  • It keeps you from living creatively because you feel like you can never create the image that is in your mind, or on someone else’s Instagram feed or Pinterest boards.

  • It keeps you from living your healthiest life because it holds up as the ideal a body that is air-brushed and professionally made-up and blown-dry, and therefore unattainable outside of fashion magazines.

  • It keeps you from loving freely and without reservation because you are always just a bit guarded - ready to be left behind for a newer model.

  • It prevents you from experiencing joy and feeling content because you spend too much energy feeling like you're never good enough.

But the problem of perfection goes even deeper. It hurts your soul. Have you gotten the message that you have to earn God’s love and work your way to heaven? Have you been taught that unless you follow all the rules and walk the walk and talk the talk, that God won’t deem you worthy of love?

I’M GOING TO LET YOU IN ON A LITTLE SECRET:

God cherishes you. Now. Just where you are. Exactly who you are. God loves you because that is who God is. God is love.

God’s love does not depend...

  • on you,

  • on what you do or don’t do,

  • on what you believe or don’t believe.

God’s love depends on God. God cannot stop loving you. Nothing you can do can make God stop loving you. If you could make God stop loving you, you would be more powerful than God.

GOD KNOWS YOU ARE PERFECT JUST AS YOU ARE!

You don’t have to...

  • earn God’s love,

  • run yourself ragged striving to be perfect in all that you do,

  • keep yourself from trying new things because you fear failing,

  • beat yourself up when you make mistakes or fall short of some external measure of “perfection.”

Because God loves you with compassion and tenderness, you can love yourself and treat yourself with compassion and tenderness.

You are worthy of love and compassion and joy.

You are good enough.

You are perfect.

You are already here.