Not that I have already attained; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.

Phillipians 3:12

We all know her (or think we do). She looks like Cheryl Tiegs and cooks l.ike Betty Crocker. Her children rise up and call her blessed. Each morning, her knight in shinning armor rides off to work on his white horse.

We also know her next door neighbor. She looks like Betty Crocker and cooks like Cheryl Tiegs. Her children rise up and call her. Some mornings  her husband gets up and some mornings he doesn’t. He doesn’t own a horse.

Romantic that I am, I always dreamed of becoming the perfect  mother and wife. I’m not sure what my definition of perfection was. But when I was around thirty-five, I had to face the sad facts. Nothing in my life was perfect. My children were great kids, but they certainly weren’t perfect. My husband was nice, but  not perfect. No one in my family had “arrived”. I certainly hadn’t.

I realize now how far off my perspective was. Of course, none of us is perfect. Perfection will come only in Heaven. And here on planet earth, true significance comes not from looking like Cheryl Tiegs or cooking like Betty Crocker, but from “laying hold” of specific ways we can use our God-given talents to benefit others.

Thought:  Instead of trying to be perfect, I will keep pressing on to discover how God wants to use me in His service.