I just need to be faithful.

I don’t need to be perfect. I don’t need to be the best.

I just need to be faithful.

I have trouble just getting started sometimes. I feel a nudge to write about something, or start a project, or create something, and it ends up lost in a sea of drafts. Relegated to the back burner of my “someday” list. Truthfully, as soon as I start creating something, I also start overthinking about it. I type, then erase. I create a plan, then set it aside.

At the root of this is something I have always struggled with… a futile quest for perfection. I’m afraid to try things unless I know I’ll be good at them. I’m afraid to put myself out there and be criticized or made fun of (whether to my face or behind my back). I’m afraid to try because I know there will always be other people out there who are doing it better. There will always be someone who knows more, has more experience, has more time, has better equipment, or has a different perspective than I do. There will always be critics.

But my heart is so wrong for thinking this way. It should never be about my own image or other people’s opinions. My motive should never be pleasing other people over being obedient to God.

Truthfully, I’ll never be perfect. No matter what I set out to do, there will always be someone else out there who does it just as well (and probably better). And that’s OK.

God can’t do anything with my intentions, only with my actions.

God didn’t put dreams in my head for me to keep them to myself.

God doesn’t want me to be perfect or better than anyone else.

He just wants me to be faithful.