I'm OK and I'm On My Way!
The expression nobodys perfect is used or heard almost every day, but its trueIm not perfect, youre not perfect, nobodys perfect. Hopefully, though, were all getting better and are on our way to perfection. The important thing to remember is that even though were not yet perfect, were still OK. Just because we havent arrived yet doesnt mean that were not on our way.
Its true that we all still have a long way to go. I used to get discouraged about how far I had to go, and it seemed like I was reminded of it every day, sometimes every hour. I carried a constant sense of failurea feeling that I just wasnt who I needed to be, I wasnt doing good enough, and I needed to try harder. Yet when I did try harder, I only failed again.
Ive now adopted a new attitude: Im not where I need to be, but thank God Im not where I used to be. Im OK, and Im on my way! I now know with all my heart that God isnt angry with me just because I havent arrived yet. Hes pleased that Im pressing on and staying on the path. If you and I will just keep on keeping on, God will be pleased with our progress.
Keep walking the walk one step at a time. This is an important thing to remember. Its true that we have to keep pressing on, but thank God we dont have to hate or reject ourselves while were trying to get to our destination.
If I invited you to take a walk, youd think I was crazy if I became angry after the first few steps because we hadnt yet arrived at our destination. We can understand ordinary things like this, yet we have a difficult time understanding that God expects it to take some time for us to grow spiritually.
We dont think theres something wrong with one-year-old children because they cant walk perfectly. They fall down frequently, but we pick them up, love them, bandage them if necessary, and keep working with them. Surely our heavenly Father can do even more for us than we do for our children.
The process is always difficult. Growing and learning is never easy, but the changes make us better people. We begin to think differently, then to talk differently, and finally, to act differently. This process develops in stages, and we must always remember that while its taking place, we can have the attitude, Im OK, and Im on my way!
Enjoy yourself while youre changing. Enjoy where you are on the way to where youre going. Enjoy the journey! Dont waste all of your now time trying to rush into the future. Remember, tomorrow will have troubles of its own (Matthew 6:34).
Today you may be wrestling with a bad temper, thinking if you could just get freedom in this area, everything would be all right. But the thing is, God will then reveal something else that needs to be dealt with, and youll be back in that same frame of mind again, thinking, If only I didnt have this problem, I could be happy. We must learn to look at these things in a new way.
We can be free to believe that we are, indeed, OK and on our waynot perfected yet, but pressing on. We can be free to enjoy life, enjoy God and enjoy ourselves.
