Thursday, January 10, 2013

My Best


Just for today, I will appreciate myself. I will not look to others for approval; I will provide it for myself. I’ll allow myself to recognize that I am doing the best I can. Today my best is good enough.
“Courage to Change: One Day at a Time in Alanon II”

If you have been reading this blog since the beginning, you have followed most of my life story. There’s a big piece which I left out and that was intentional.  In true-life movies, they say that certain facts have been changed to protect the innocent, but I really do want to protect the guilty too.

Back in 1988, when my first husband totaled the truck, I finally convinced him that our lives were out of control and said that we needed help. He agreed to AODA counseling and I started going to Al-anon. Whether you live with someone who abuses drugs or alcohol or not, a lot of the concepts of Al-anon (and AA as well) apply to numerous aspects of our lives.

 Keep It Simple ~   One Day At A Time ~ Let Go And Let God Easy Does It 
 ~ But For The Grace Of God, there go I ~ Let It Begin With Me

Though I haven’t been to a meeting in many, many years, my “Courage to Change” book is still on my nightstand. Last night, God pointed me to it and I opened it to the verse above.

I’ve been kind of hard on myself lately – ok, basically when have I not been hard on myself? I think that I have to be perfect all the time and that everything I touch must also end up perfect. Guess what? Life ain’t like that. And imperfection is totally acceptable. Our best may not be THE best, but it is still our best. 

3 comments:

Lorilyn Roberts said...

I agree, Chris. I think there is something dysfunctional about trying to be perfect -- I am that way too.

I have learned that even in our imperfection, there is beauty. Out of our imperfection, as a Christian, God is glorified -- it is in our weakness that He shines.

When we try to be perfect, we deny His power, because His power is made perfect in our weakness.

Chris Loehmer Kincaid said...

Thank you for the comment, Lorilyn, and you are absolutely right.

Unknown said...

God forms the most beautiful people through these things we go through.

I also like Lorilyn's comment: "I think there is something dysfunctional about trying to be perfect"

Wow. That is a great statement. Instead, I have to set my sights on honoring God by being obedient, which always produces better perfection than I ever could. Great blog post Chris!