My Lenten Promise to Jesus

I have rarely ever succeeded in carrying through my Lenten promises of giving something up.   Give up social media? Failed.  Give up gossiping? Failed.  (Don’t worry, I’m really working on that one and drag myself to confession when I do gossip.) Give up chocolate? HA! Give up sweets? Not more than a week.

Since I have a proven track record of not being able to stick to my promises (I’m sorry, Jesus, I really am), I have decided this year that instead of trying to strengthen my willpower on some things (like chocolate or sweets) that won’t really make me a better person, I will instead work on giving up perfection.

(I know, giving up gossiping will make me a better person, but I need to give up perfection even more.)

I am a self-proclaimed “type-A” person.  

While I don’t think that I will ever be able to change the fact that I am type-A, I will use this Lenten season as a time to force myself to relax a little on some of those tendencies. 

For me, when I think of the fact that I am type-A, it goes beyond list-making, planning, preparing and multi-tasking.  My “type-A-ness” comes from wanting to have control over some aspects of my life.  I’m sure that it also stems from my anxiety and having that control helps to regulate the anxiety.  However, being type-A, for me at least, means that I am trying to be perfect.

But, I’m human, I am not perfect.
Jesus Christ was and is perfect.
But, he doesn’t expect me to be.

So my Lenten promise for this year is to stop trying to be or make situations perfect.

Instead, I am going to try and look at myself and situations the way that Jesus would.

I’m going to stop the….

Perfection of always keeping the house clean at all times.
Perfection of always getting my work done way in advance.
Perfection of always feeding my son only the healthiest and most wholesome foods.
Perfection of always doing the laundry and putting it away immediately.
Perfection of always feeling like I can do more
Perfection of always feeling that I am not enough.
Perfection of always putting everything else before enjoyment.
Perfection of anything that doesn’t have to be done or thought about or worried about in that moment.
 
How Do I Plan On Giving Up Perfection
 
So that I don’t fail before I begin, I’ve decided not to plan too much for this.

Besides checking out the book “Grace, Not Perfection” by Emily Ley from the library, I don’t have a plan.

It’s foreign to me since I literally have an excel spreadsheet dedicated to plans and lists for both work and personal tasks.

But to be honest, it feels good.
I almost feel like I can do this.
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No, I know I can do this.
I can give up perfection for the things that don’t matter to benefit the people and things that do.
 
What is your Lenten promise for this season?  Please share with us on ​Facebook. ​
As always, thank you for reading.  God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!