Trying to build a prayer life can be difficultโwhether you donโt know how to pray or you donโt feel like praying. So weโre here to help you connect with God with simple prayers for the everyday.ย
I Try So Hard to Be Perfect
Weโve been taught to value hard work, to try our best, to strive for perfection. And while itโs normal and good to have high expectations, and to work toward improvement, that last pointโ striving for perfection, is where so many of us get hung up.
A desire to do things perfectly often brings with it anxiety and exhaustion. Trying to never mess up results in comparison and shame.
Weโre holding ourselves to a standard that we hold no one else toโฆ and one thatโs impossible to achieve. A standard that will only leave us feeling inadequate or like a failure. We might even find ourselves falling into apathy, wondering why we should bother at all if weโre not going to be perfect.
Friends, no one expects you to be perfectโ least of all God. We were all made and called very good, even as he gifted us with limitations and weaknesses. Let yourself remember: Jesus was perfect so you donโt have to be.
If youโre struggling with the pressure to be perfect, we hope you find freedom with this verse and prayer.
โBut he said to me, โMy grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.โ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christโs power may rest on meโ (2 Corinthians 12:9).
A Prayer for Perfectionism
Spotless Lamb of God, you lived perfectly so that I may have forgiveness. You love me perfectly so that I may have peace. In the moments when Iโm tempted to strive for the impossibility of perfection, remind me that Iโve already been made perfect in you. Help me embrace my moments of failure and weakness, and still see myself as you do: very good. Free me from the idol of perfectionism, this pressure I put on myself, and lead me instead to take comfort in your perfect love. Amen.
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