I'm a Loving not Perfect Parent.

For a couple of years, I have longingly looked at perfect parents! Perfect in the way they parent their children and run their homes. I have looked at some older women and thought to myself, one day, I hope to measure up to their perfection - well-arranged and decorated homes. Not that mine is not liveable, but somewhere in my mind, I feel like I do not measure up.

Measure up to whose standards? That question gnaws in my heart, but again, I ignore it as my imperfection stares me in the face. Well-behaved boys… do we have many role-model boys out there? Deep sigh because I feel as if I may not be doing a sterling job of raising a perfect gentleman. Ah! Perfect again. This word seems to tail and follow me throughout life.

Who am I anyway? I am just another woman trying to look the part in every area of my life. An ordinary woman called to do extraordinary things. From head to toe, I wake up and think I must have it all together: perfect! You got it.

Until, one day, I realised that love transcends perfection.

Love is better than perfect. Who needs the perfect parent when there is a loving parent? The penny dropped: Faith, hope and love abide and the greatest of these is love. Love? Did you say, love? Is that not that fuzzy word used loosely by people who want to take away from me? I have had a tough time with loving, you may say. I choose perfection over love. Hang on though, what did Apostle Paul mean in his second letter to the Corinthians? Love is the greatest. So as a parent, should I not be chasing after perfection in my parenting, career, and family life?

Love is a decision to see the best and give my best to another person. Love chooses the best route for others. Remember, Jesus Christ gave us the golden rule:

"Do unto others as you want them to do to you."

People always remember how you make them feel not just what you do or say to them.

What kind of parent will you be in this new year? Love transcends perfection.