BeBrave.love

Being perfect is not real… being REAL is perfect!

In 2003, my friend Mikki and I had a gift company called Dreambox gifts and this quote, 

“Being perfect is not real… being REAL is perfect”, which I wrote, was one of our bestsellers.

Almost 20 years later, it still resonates so strongly.

I believe perfection is one of those tricky attributes. It can be your greatest virtue and yet, can also be a vice.

Sometimes when you focus on making something so perfect, crossing every “T” and dotting every “I” to the point of making yourself a bit crazy. 

It may be like an anchor that is limiting you to be truly authentic.

The other thing about perfection is that it may hinder you from actually even beginning a new venture, business, or idea. It’s like if everything single duck is not in the exact row, it prevents you from starting.

So I like to propose this thought.

Isn’t it better to take imperfect action, than to take no action at all?

To me, it’s about doing your best and doing it with excellence, knowing that it’s ok, when it’s not 100% perfect. 

For example, the launching of this website. Do I have everything figured out perfectly? The answer is NO. And are there more changes and edits to come? Absolutely YES!

I am a real movie buff, and one of the things I love the most is the outtakes at the end of the movies. It’s the best. You get to see what didn’t work, how much they laughed when they messed up, which then, makes you appreciate how beautifully it eventually came together.

When we look at perfection through the lens of the Bible, it calls us to be “perfect as [our] heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). 

The Greek word for “perfect” here is telios. It means “brought to its end, completed, or perfect.” So, to be “perfect” in this sense is not how perfectionists so often imagine it.

Rather, it is to let God do His work in and through us.

Philippians 1:6 says that completion is the work of God. He created us, saved us, and is faithful to perfect us. WOW!!!

Perfection through Him!

So remember, being perfect is not real, so jump in and bloom where you are planted.

Angela Jo Colella

Angela Jo Colella