Why Celebrating Progress Not Perfection is the Way Forward

“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” Galatians 6:9 NLT

Let’s pretend for just a moment that I show up at your door with an entire celebration shebang in tow. You will find my arms so laden with presents, you can’t even see my face . I then proceed to bumble through your door ready to float away with the vast array of balloons anchored in my grip and present a cake to you that looks so decadent you’re ready to sink your teeth into it as soon you lay eyes on it. (Forks? Who needs forks?!? Forks are a waste of time!)

“We’re celebrating!” I exclaim to your gob-smacked and definitely confused face.

“Oh my gosh!” You respond, as you whip through your mental calendar. You start to wonder what’s going on here…..

Is it my birthday? No silly, you know it’s not.

Was it a promotion at work? Nope, that hasn’t happened either….yet.

Did I win the lottery? No friend, sorry. You don’t even play.

Mentally you’re certain you’ve exhausted all your options and to your chagrin you ask me: “What exactly are we celebrating?”

“Progress, sweet friend, progress!”

Now, you may think this all seems a little frivolous (except for the cake, there’s always a reasonable excuse to have cake, right?) but I want to remind you of a few simple things you’re doing perfectly, right now, that are worth celebrating :

• You haven’t quit. (You’re quite scrappy in fact)
• You are doing the best that you can. (Grit looks good on you)
• You’re readjusting to learn from the hard, and re-calibrating to hold onto what is good. (Now THAT in fact, IS pretty perfect)

See?!? You’re doing a lot of things well!

You know what’s kind of crazy? We get so caught up with the birthdays, promotions and winning-the-lottery like moments that we forget to celebrate the progress that gets us to those milestones. The moments of deep prayer crying out for Heaven’s help as tears of exasperation flow down our cheeks. The grit of the unseen trial and errors until we cross the finish line of finally getting it right. The step-by-faithful step that it takes to get up again, and again just to grab onto new mercies and inch forward one step each day. There is a reason that scripture tells us to not grow weary in doing good. In fact, there is a reward waiting for us if we do not give up.

When did progress stop being enough?

While we recognize that there are milestones to be hit, and finish lines we are desperate to cross there is also a journey we’re on that only happens because of progress. We might do ourselves, and our walk of faith, a great solid by simply stopping to remember just how far we’ve come. Look at it this way: You aren’t where you were when you started. You have made mistakes, and lived beyond them. You are struggling to reconcile that reality looks far different from what you initially envisioned and that’s OK. But, what got you from point A to point B, (even if it was on the grandest of detours past point X) means this…..you’re doing it. Little by little, step by step and moment by moment you aren’t making perfection, you’re making progress. Don’t give up on the good work that God is doing, or the unseen work your progress is making right here, and right now. And remembering that, dear friend, is always worth celebrating.

Lots of Love,

Joy