Forget Perfection, Ignore Critics....

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt

God has shown me this again and again over the past couple of years; in the end, faithfulness, not perfection, is what counts. While we should strive to do all things with excellence, we can't allow ourselves to be slaves to perfection. We can't and won't be perfect this side of heaven. If we are seeking God and following him as closely as we can, he will guide and equip us....and he will fill in the gaps when we fail.