Don’t Follow the Rules!

Contrast the drive in to town filled with so much endless upbeat chatter I wondered if I could keep up, the quiet ride home was almost unnerving. Maybe she’d played herself out? Headlights paved the way through the early autumn darkness.

And then it came, quiet and determined. “Mom, if God created me to be like him, I’m never going to get that right, so why should I even try? I’ll never be perfect so why bother?”

Deep Mommy breaths. Oh my beautiful first born who thinks and acts and assesses everything so much like her mother, so much like her father, if I could only gift you the freedom from this perfectionism, this desire to do everything just right.  So I grip the wheel a little tighter and stumble, slowly, as I try to whisper truth to her heart, while praying for some divine wisdom from above.

“Oh beautiful, God didn’t create you so that you could be perfect, he created you so that he could enjoy you, he made you exactly the way he wanted, he doesn’t want your perfection, he wants to have a relationship with you.”

“But if there’s rules to follow, rules to make me more like him, didn’t he make me to follow his rules? I’m never going to get all the rules right.”

“Actually sweet girl, he made you to make choices, your own choices, and he wants very much for you to offer for him to be your friend. You know, I’m just starting to get this myself but when your Dad shows me how much he loves me even when I really make mistakes, even when I hurt him,  even when I am imperfect, that is when I really begin to understand what it is to be truly loved.  Jesus comes for the imperfection. He is what makes you right. It is nothing you do, no rules you follow, certainly not by trying to be perfect, that’s not what he wants. It’s just him and you. His power comes when you let him love you, imperfect.  So bring your imperfect to Jesus, that’s where He is.”

She is quiet. I know she is thinking, in someways it is easier just to shoot for the rules. But last time I checked easier was never better when it came to relationships and as her mother, more than anything I hope she can learn to stroll hand in hand with her maker, not trying to prove her worth to Him, but accepting her worth from him.

Luke 5:32 “I didn’t come to invite good people to turn to God. I came to invite sinners.”