Failure.
Not good enough.
Just do better.
Maybe it’s an unmet career goal that has left you feeling this way. Or a misunderstanding with a friend. For me, when I wrote this, it was a big pile of laundry staring at me. All I wanted to accomplish that day was to fold that laundry. But, life happens and each time I went to tackle the laundry I was interrupted. The kids needed something, or dinner needed cooking, or work needed me to solve an urgent issue. At the end of the day, as I stared at the pile of laundry, I felt like a failure. But I’m not a failure.
What if we looked at our failures as simply a change in plans? We were redirected somewhere else where we were needed more.
Still, that pile of laundry doesn’t reconcile with the mask I wear that says I have it all together. What’s your pile of laundry that stares at you day after day? It’s a visual reminder that you can’t do it all. There goes another mask. Your life isn’t perfect. And in reality, there are times when you have no clue what you’re doing.
But it’s okay. You know what else the laundry says to you?
You trusted God.
It says you chose what’s important. In those moments when you thought you would get the laundry folded, you chose love. Your kids needed you and you were there for them.
You and Jesus, loving your kids together.
What about those “big decisions” in life? Career choices. Life partners. Where to live. Where to go to school. They are big decisions. But so is God. He can use your choices if you lay them at His feet and allow Him to lead you. Trust Him.
When I left my accounting career, I felt a lot of shame about abandoning a career that looked so good on the outside. One that I had invested a number of years in schooling and working at an accounting firm to gain experience. How could I just walk away from it all? When I had started pursuing this goal I felt convinced that this was the direction that God had chosen for my life. I was confused now that He would lead me somewhere else entirely. Was I getting my signals crossed? I still don’t know whether God had me down that career path, or whether I had myself on it.
But I know that Christ was in me the entire time. As I remove the masks I had strapped tightly to my face…
Performer
Achiever
Independent
Competent
I can leave them behind and live with an open hand. I am trusting God as He leads me on each new step with Him.
I don’t need my masks anymore.
They are not who I am.
And they don’t give me what I truly need.
Love
Acceptance
Worth
Belonging
Security
All these things are met in Jesus. When I’m not wearing my masks, I don’t need to have expectations, and there really are no failures. It’s just me, trusting Jesus, as we go about our day together. And those unmet goals are really just Jesus redirecting my path.
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