Sometimes I tout perfectionism as a laudable trait. Most of the time I think it a terrible curse. Like it or not, I wrestle with it.
Cecil O. Samuelson titled his devotional address this morning “Be Ye Therefore Perfect.” His premise: perfectionism is debilitating. Worthiness is divine, he said, but that is not the same as perfection. We won’t be perfect any time soon, and that’s okay. Doing our best qualifies us to be called worthy. Perfection comes only by grace.
Perfectionists don’t have nearly as much trouble loving God and loving others as they do loving themselves. But that, too, is an essential component of the second great commandment.
So I keep going. It’s no problem loving my friends and family. Even strangers. They’re doing their best, and that’s good enough for me. To develop the same opinion of myself is the challenge.
