Praise, not perfection

I cleaned my room today… for the sixth time this week. Out came the vacuum and the feather duster. Laundry was done. Dishes were re-washed. All my drawers were dumped and re-organized.

This is my desperate attempt to grasp control of my seemingly out-of-control life.


Though my room is spotless, my mind and heart are cluttered. I haven’t lived up to my own expectations, I fell asleep while trying to read a school book, I missed a phone conversation, I haven’t even begun the many essays that are due soon, and I haven’t had any time to give to friends.

I’m overwhelmed and drowning and I can’t save myself… I am messing everything up.

But then I read it… the words from One Thousand Gifts, “Praise, not Perfection. He wants my praise not my perfection…”

I take a breath…

In… out… in… out…

I don’t have to have it all together. I need to take my rambling thoughts and worries captive and continue counting my blessings…

"As long as THANKS is possible, then JOY is always possible." - Ann Voskamp

Thank you, Lord, for family. For crunchy leaves for me to step on. For people who appreciate me. For spontaneous trips with friends. For wide smiles across rooms. For three hundred voices worshiping You in unison. For laughter. For silence. For peace.

“Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you." Jeremiah 32:17