Be gone, Perfection!

As hard as I try some days, I’m certainly not a perfect mom.

But, really, that’s how it’s supposed to be. We’re supposed to depend on God, our husband, our friends and even our kids to help us through life. Life truly is more authentic — and far less perfect! — when we live in community.

For me, one temptation that comes with living in community is every family is different. I’m the only mom who truly knows what I’m feeling on the inside. Yet I have been tempted to compare my emotions to what I perceive of someone else’s life. Sure, we probably know the struggles our closest friends are experiencing. We probably can often even relate to how the feel. But comparing how we feel with our perception of anyone else’s life is bad news.

The other part of every family being different is our family may not make choices our dearest friends make. Nobody is necessarily right or wrong, but I’ve experienced the temptation to judge them. Yes, unfortunately, I’ve been lured into judging the people I adore because they aren’t doing life like we are. And I’m sure they’ve at times wondered why I am hesitant to interrupt naptime, don’t care about Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy, or chose to enroll Cate in kindergarten at a private school. But we talk about these things and choose to respect one another’s hearts. That’s community at its hardest and finest. And it sure makes for real conversations about choices with my 5-year-old girl.

Truth is: None of us are perfect. But if we moms trust each other with our insecurities while dads commit to lead their families, we’ll all be better off. Not perfect. The perfection will come at the end of this life when we’re meet Jesus face to face. For now, it’s a process. A day-by-day process. And, yes, like any process, there will be kinks and hiccups.

It’s for these — and plenty of other! — reasons that I’m so excited about Jill Savage’s coming-soon book, “No More Perfect Moms.” I’ve read a couple of other books by Jill Savage and am a regular reader of her blog. Her words often encourage me in this adventure of motherhood.

Jill Savage wants to encourage you too. You can learn more about her book, read stories from other imperfect moms, learn about buying the book and special bonus offers if you’ll wait until it’s released in February, and sign up for the 31-day No More Perfect Moms e-mail challenge that will start with the new year.