The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself. – Anna Quindlen

I was born a perfectionist. Or maybe, I grew up a perfectionist. My teachers were perfectionists. My grade school was known for raising perfectionists. And I  really thought  that perfection should be everyone’s goal! Whoa!

But deep inside, all I really wanted was to be me and not feel bad for the things I can’t do. I may not be the Cathy who can make impressive AE effects for action scenes {I do get compared to boys who are so good in blast scenes! lol}, dance or pose for the camera like my photogenic sis and I may not be everything people expect me to be. But it’s nice to be just who I am, to be who God created me to be--even if I’m not perfect and sometimes so clumsy!

I really love this song from Francesca Battistelli. The lyrics are really what’s in my heart right now.

People are not perfect and I am not perfect. And it’s useless to try to measure up to perfection. I know that whenever I try, I would definitely make mistakes sometimes. I know that even in love, I would also need to learn to forgive. That when I ride a bike, I might  get a scratch on my knee.

And it’s liberating to know that God accepts me for who I am and doesn’t asks me to come to Him only when I made myself perfect and blameless. He asks me to come and be changed. Not the other way around.

Grace. My life is all because of grace. Never measured up. Never met the standards. And yet He calls me “loved”. He loves me. God loves me.



Freedom from perfection and jumping into the sea of God’s grace brings this relief to my heart and soul. I don’t need to look like anyone or act like anyone or talk like anyone to be perfect. But I could be like Jesus and  be changed by Him from glory to glory—everyday.

And so today, I give up on perfection.  I would just ask for grace to be excellent instead—in love, in being a good steward, in life, in becoming who God created me to be, in accepting who I am because He loves me--and to be willing to be changed so I would look more like Him.