Ok, so how do I start? So I've been having some...issues...lately. Not a surprise. Just the fact that everything seems to happen at once is what really irks me. But I've learned to adjust and take things as they come. God doesn't give me anything that I can't handle ~ it's just how I choose to handle it that makes it harder than it really is. So I sometimes tend to do that: make things harder than they are. For example, my final sketch today was really getting on my nerves. I'm doing this four-person portrait of my sisters and I. I'm seriously considering starting over completely and pulling myself out of the picture. It doesn't help any that I'm doing a sketch of those that I know and love the most here on earth.

And it really doesn't help that I'm a picky perfectionist. Every single detail needs to be so perfect or it's out the window! But as I take a break from this final sketch and breathe...I find that I can't be perfect. I can strive for perfection, but I'll never actually make it.

In light of this fact, I will not give up in defeat and throw down my pencil. I will not do a slop job on the final and be satisfied with a preliminary sketch.

I will do my best. God expects me to do my best, and I will. Whether or not I achieve that is up to Him. But right now, I will do as He wants me to and do it until He wants me to be done. Because I'm such a perfectionist, I will strive for perfection until there is no more....Then I will be satisfied because I know I've done my very best for Him.

"Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48, NASB

Father, help me to be as You want me to be and nothing else. Help me to strive for that perfection that only You can possess. Help me not get discouraged at that, but to only want to be more like You. Please help me to be faithful to this goal and to always strive for perfection.
Amen.

And amen.