You Can Never Be Perfect

In the spiritual world, we tend to tell ourselves and others that "We're perfect just the way we are," or, "You ARE perfect!" But as a Christian, I am here to tell myself, and all of you, that no, no, I'm sorry, but you're not perfect, neither am I, nor will we ever, ever, ever be [so long as we're humans here on Earth].

I became very embedded in the spiritual world for a while, so I do feel I can speak on it without just spitting out words that don't have any backing. So believe me when I say, it's a beautiful sentiment, this that we already are perfect as we are, but it's really not true, and sadly, it's entirely unattainable as an Earthling. We are all flawed, we are all sinners, and we will never cease making mistakes. Yes, the severity and frequency of them can decrease, and will/should depending on our personal practices and beliefs, but there is no way in hades that any one of us on Earth will ever be able to be 100% pure. Our inclination for sin will never diminish completely. That is just not how the cookie crumbled. (Thanks, Eve.)

When we tell ourselves and others that we're perfect as we are because we want to stop people from self-deprecation, then that is just as wonderful as it gets! Really! I am all on board, and I still do tell people they're perfect as they are, meaning it in just such a way. Usually. Which I now realize I should probably stop doing, because on those occassions I say it meaning something else, I don't really believe it. Whoops. (Told you I became embedded.)

I believe that we are all perfectly flawed, wonderfully, magically, and carefully made, but no, I do not believe that "real" perfection is in our genetic make-up. I believe that we are all going to continue making mistakes our entire lives. We can absolutely improve and become less sinful and flawed, but just because you've cleaned up your act doesn't meaned you've totally straightened out your mind. There's a lot of funky stuff that passes through my brain that I never act on, but it's impure nonetheless. Regardless of how much we improve, sin happens -- on the mental plane, the physical plane, the spiritual plane, sometimes all of them at once.

However, I also believe that we don't appreciate ourselves enough. We live in a society that thrives on making us feel inadequate, in order to sell us a bunch of junk we don't need, that we are most often buying with a bunch of money we might not even have. Social media connects us, but I know I'm not the only one guilty of sitting there looking at all-star athletes, yogis, climbers, swimmers, dancers, models, whatever-ers, lingerie babes, adventurers, writers, painters, designers, and the likes on Instagram, body shaming myself, or life shaming myself, because what I am and have "doesn't compare" to what I'm greedily double clicking. So when we talk about "you are perfect as you are," meaning that "you are and have enough as it is and do not need to feel badly about yourself because of anyone else," then it is absolutely wonderful, and yes, that is a very true statement. If self-deprecation is the case, please start to consider yourself more highly than you do currently. (Myself very much included.)

And this has been my morning thought.

I love you family, and don't get me wrong, I think you're amazing, wonderful, and totally magic! I just know we're not perfect, and am tired of perpetuating this perfection thing. Because we'll never live up to it, and it probably just contributes to our low self-esteem and us feeling badly about ourselves more often than we should, because we're surrounded by these altered images and ideas of perfection enough as it is, that the last thing we need are all our peers telling us we're perfect, when we know this not to be the case [because we know all our little hic-ups]. So, YOU ARE GREAT AS YOU ARE, but there's always room for improvement, in every last one of us. But let's not focus too much on that! Because simply by giving thanks, loving others and ourselves, and trying a little bit to be better than we were yesterday, we'll see that margin of error decrease "on its own."

So get on out there, love and appreciate yourself as you are, and always remember: you don't need to try to live up to perfection, because we can never be perfect. But we can be new and improved! ;)

Blessings, Love, Light & Wondrous Wonder to all!

-Allie-Sun <3