Heavenly Perfection

"The Lord Your God is With You! He is Mighty to Save!"

Zeph. 3:17

I have been reading The Emotional Eaters Book of Inspiration: 90 Truths You Need to Know to Overcome Your Food Addictions by Debbie Danowski, PHD. I have shared these "truths" in otherposts. I have noticed several people posting about being perfectionists. Here is an exert from Danowski's book:
"Your imperfections are a part of you. Make a decision to accept the way you look, accept yourself as you are.

This allows you to move forward. Make a decision to stop criticizing yourself. First, don't say mean things about yourself. For instance, if you call yourself stupid when you make a mistake or fat when you try a pair of pants on, stop it. Say instead, "I am human and humans will never be perfect." The second thing you can do is to begin to say nice things to yourself. This may seem scary to you and you may not want to do it, but try to keep an open mind. Even if you start by telling yourself one nice thing each day, it will move you forward. You will notice that after a while you will criticize yourself less than you did before.

Please understand that it will not feel wonderful the first few times you are nice to yourself. It may even make you cry. You are so used to the criticism that the positive talk reminds you of exactly how mean you have been to yourself. At first, your mind feels unworthy of the nice things. Even though accepting yourself as you are may feel uncomfortable, it is important that you continue. Don't give up and it will get easier. Before you know it, you will get used to hearing positive things about yourself. Eventually, you will even come to believe them. Today, find at least one nice thing to say about yourself. Maybe you have a great smile or pretty hair. Do you have an outgoing personality or can you tell a great joke? Whatever it is, you owe it to yourself to notice it.”

This book has been so helpful to me and I keep going back to it because for each chapter there is a big kernel of truth.

However, like Paul Harvey used to say, “Now for the REST of the story….”
Since God does not look on the outward appearance and instead looks at my heart (1 Sam. 16:7), spending time focused on my phyical imperfections is a waste of my time. It is in acknowledging that I am a cracked pot - that will allow God to work through me to reach other cracked pots.


"Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we're proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you.It started when God said, "Light up the darkness!" and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful. If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at. We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken." 2 Cor. 4:6-8


So - the rest of the story is, without Christ I cannot think enough postitive thoughts that will lift me out of my negative upbringing and brainwashing. No amount of secular meditation will help "perfect" me for eternity in heaven. (I am preaching to my self tonight-& whew! I have warn myself out!)

Oh, Lord, help me tonight to leave all this earthly fussing about my body at Your throne of grace and mercy. I am but a wisp of smoke, here for a second. Take me and prepare me for an eternity praising You. In Christ's name I plead, Amen.

The words of these songs just keep touching my heart this week: