The Beauty of Imperfection and Grace

I sow grace for myself. To be where I am, to be who I am. Enough. I reap grace for others, to excel at what God called them to do in all the excellent ways He’s gifted them. To allow others to own their gifts and calling without resenting being passed over. They are running their own races. No one can outpace me when my route is different. - Alia Joy

Did you catch that? "No one can outpace me when my route is different." Yes, yes, amen. We're done here.

Just kidding. But think about it. How often do we find ourselves stuck in the dangerous downward spiral of comparison? We know comparison is the thief of joy, but we let it in anyway.

We steal glances at the people running beside us, and we try to catch up to those ahead of us. We wear ourselves out trying to compete with others and the standards we set for ourselves.

We let comparison whisper lies to us, telling us that we don't measure up. We believe the little voice that tells us we're not enough if we don't buy all the toys, drive the nice cars, have an impressive job, and live in a massive and beautiful home.

We let the world and its expectations tell us what to believe about ourselves and our worth. We allow others to dictate how we spend our money, our energy, and our lives. We try to fit into boxes we were never meant to fit inside.

We tell ourselves that our dreams are too small or too big. We think they need to be the same as everybody else's. We rein them in and trade them in.

But no more.

We are not perfect, and we don't have to pretend otherwise. We are not all the same, and that's a good thing. We are each unique, each beautiful, each valued, and each worthy. We do not have to do anything to be enough. We already are enough. We don't have to conform to the rules of somebody else's game. We are free.

We are enough. You are enough. I am enough. Right where we are today. May we give ourselves enough grace to see that. We don't have to strive for our worth. We already have it.

Part of living like love is learning to love ourselves in the here and now, not some far-off version of us. It's learning to embrace both our strengths and our weaknesses, acknowledging the reality of where we are at in this moment, even when it's miles away from where we want to be.

It's believing in our dreams, choosing to pursue things that we love, things that are different from our neighbor's, sister's, and friend's dreams. It's leaning into what makes us us.

But it's also gently pushing ourselves to greater heights. Not because it will make us more worthy, not because we're not enough without greater achievements or more impressive lives, but because we know what we're capable of. We are capable of great things. Let us reach toward them, believing we can reach them, knowing that it is because we are loved and valuable and free that we can achieve our dreams.

We are capable of great things. Let us reach toward them, believing we can reach them, knowing that it is because we are loved and valuable and free that we can achieve our dreams.

Further reading:

An Anthem of Imperfection by Alia Joy, (in)courage