The Tension of Perfection and Grace

 

Last week at a work meeting, the following quote was shared as encouragement and motivation in our jobs: "We will not achieve perfection, but we will find excellence in our pursuit of perfection” (Vince Lombardi). As an Enneagram 1 and perfectionist, the quote immediately grabbed my attention. Striving for perfection is a regular part of my life. I have a strong inner critic, and I’m constantly evaluating what I’m doing and saying to see if it matches up to what I think is right. 

I have an eye for catching small errors or things out of place and a strong desire to fix said errors. This tendency can serve me well when editing for my job, but it can also be problematic when I struggle to turn off that part of my brain for things that don’t truly matter or when it leads to being overly judgmental. I can easily get caught up in the small imperfections and forget to show grace to myself and others. 

Sleeping at Last has a song for each Enneagram type, and I love the message of the Type 1 song:

 “The list goes on forever

Of all the ways I could be better, in my mind

As if I could earn God's favor given time

Or at least congratulations

Now, I have learned my lesson

The price of this so-called perfection is everything

I've spent my whole life searching desperately

To find out that grace requires nothing of me”

 Grace requires nothing of me. What an amazing statement! God’s grace is freely given, not earned by the things I achieve or the words I say. The many imperfections of this life are evidence of the world’s brokenness and God’s true perfection. I don’t have to have everything together or do things just right for God to love me. He loves me because I am His creation and made in His image. He knows all my flaws and failures and is making me new. I need this reminder regularly. 

Yet this does not mean I should stop seeking perfection altogether or that the pursuit of perfection is fruitless. As the Lombardi quote reminds us, we can find excellence even if we can’t achieve perfection. We have each been entrusted with knowledge, skills, and resources that we are called to steward faithfully. Faithful stewardship does not require perfection, but it does require an attempt at excellence. We are not to be wasteful or careless with what God has given us. 

There is a tension between my desire for perfection and resting in God’s grace. But it can be a healthy tension if I let it. I don’t want to let myself go to either extreme: hypercritical or apathetic. There is a balance to be found in stewarding what I have been given with excellence while also resting in God’s abundant grace. The end of the Sleeping at Last song says it well: “I'll hold it all more loosely and yet somehow much more dearly.”

  --Concetta Swann