perfectly imperfect

i've been mulling this post over for awhile.  perfectly imperfect.  that's my life and i wouldn't have it any other way.  social media definitely tends to make everyone's life look glossy and shiny (except for the few super negative nellies out there).  but if you've ever looked up close to a glossy image, you'll see indentions and maybe even cracks.  such it is with life.  the glossiness of social media can hide our imperfections and make others think we have perfect lives.

but i don't NOT share my imperfections on facebook, instagram, or the blog because i'm trying to HIDE anything.  i don't share all of them because they aren't what i focus on and dwell on.  anyone who has looked closely at my life has seen the indentions and cracks of imperfection.  but those don't define me.  they make me perfectly imperfect.

 i am not a super mommy. i lose my temper.  i snap at my kids.  i run and hide in my room when their daddy gets home just for a few minutes of quiet some days.  i very rarely do art projects and i certainly don't feed them a perfect diet.  but i love my babies.  i hug them 65,209,183 times a day and tell them i love them even more.  i charge them "kisses" in return for my help.  i tell them i'm sorry when i lose my marbles and i drop everything when they need snuggles . my mommy "failure" moments (which are sometime more often than i would like) don't make me a bad mommy.  they make me a perfectly imperfect mommy.

my marriage is far from perfect.  we've walked through darkness that seemed endless and valleys so deep we couldn't see the mountaintops.  but we have learned so much about grace and mercy and know that we would rather walk through the darkness together than hang out on mountaintops alone.  we can be short fused with one another (or maybe that's just me...he's pretty patient!) and fight over ridiculously stupid things.  we sometimes go to bed angry and have been known to hang up the phone mid-conversation in anger.  but we love each other immensely and delight in the small things together.  we watch friends together before bed and talk/text throughout the day because we miss each other.  i still ask him to stay home from work every day.  our ugly times don't make it a bad marriage.  they make our marriage perfectly imperfect.

so while my facebook pictures tend to be of my wonderful kids playing and smiling (with a few tantrum pics thrown in for good measure) and my status will NEVER be complaining about my husband (though i definitely write those in my head often! ha!), my life is so, so far from perfect.       but it IS perfectly imperfect, just the way my Daddy created it to be.  how good He is to love us and our imperfections so very much that He makes them beautiful.  He trades His glorious beauty for our ugly ashes and delights in seeing us perfectly imperfect.

so never, ever let what you see on facebook/instagram/twitter/etc. make you think someone's life is perfect.  or make you feel like your life is less than perfect.  we are all perfectly imperfect works-in-progress and the only difference is what we choose to focus on.  focus on the beauty and find joy in the little things.