We Don’t Do Perfect Here

During the early virtual school days of the 2020 pandemic, I started repeating a phrase for my family: We don’t do perfect here.

When the picture wasn’t quite right…when the school lesson was harder than it should have been…when the snack didn’t get cleaned up…and especially when someone was harder on themselves or others than they should have been. I would reply, “It’s okay. We don’t do perfect here.”

It caught on and became a sort of theme for our family. It stuck. Even now, you can hear these words coming from any one of us, but more than likely, the kids use it on me. “We don’t do perfect here, NiNi,” one of them says when I get frustrated over leaving late for school. Or I hear it after I am down on myself for losing my patience (again). And when I burn part of dinner, and I’m crying in frustration over the smoke filling the house, and I’m desperately trying to get the smoke to clear before it hits the detector and my alarm system automatically calls the fire department (that might have happened a time or two). Oftentimes, when I expect more of myself than I should, one of my littles reminds me that we don’t do perfect here.

But this simple phrase has taught us a lot about life. We’ve realized it goes beyond our family. The “here” is not just within our household; it’s “here” in this world.

We are not perfect. Far from it. But we are willing. Willing to try our best. Willing to forgive. Willing to start again.

My family would not be considered traditional (although it is becoming increasingly “normal”). I married my husband and became a stepmom when his kids were 10, 12, and 13. Now, over 24 years later, we have adopted and are raising three of our grandchildren. We’ve made many mistakes along the way and will continue to do so. 

We don’t do perfect here…but we are willing. Willing to let the Holy Spirit work through us. Willing to show the greatest love we can. Willing to follow God’s plan the best we can.

As mentioned in a previous post, I’ve spent years thinking I wasn’t ready to fulfill God’s call on my life. I didn’t know enough. The future wasn’t clear enough. But I’ve learned that I don’t have to be “ready” (What is God’s definition of ready anyway?). I don’t have to be perfect…but I have to be willing.

Was Moses perfect? No.

Was David perfect? Nope.

Was Joseph perfect? Negative.

But they were willing. They were willing to let the Holy Spirit enter their lives. They were willing to give God control and follow his lead. God never asked anyone who he used to be perfect. In fact, just about everyone he used in Scripture had some pretty obvious limitations and made awful mistakes even after being called into service. Moses certainly could have used the phrase, “We don’t do perfect here,” as he described his life or journey through the desert with the Israelites. He repeatedly tried to convince God that he wasn’t the one for the job (Exodus 3-4). He had some anger issues, as demonstrated when he killed an Egyptian and had to go into hiding (Ex. 2:11-15) and when he broke the first set of stone tablets God made (Ex. 32:19). David was anointed by God (1 Samuel 16:13). Still, he seemed to be a bit of a womanizer with his many wives and concubines (2 Samuel 5:13). And in his lust for Bathsheba, he got her pregnant and then had her husband, Uriah, killed to cover up his sin (2 Samuel 11). Joseph wasn’t perfect, either. This stepfather to Jesus almost divorced Mary before their marriage even got started (Matthew 1:19). And then later, he couldn’t even find a nice room for God to make his human entrance into the world (Luke 2:7). After Jesus was born, I can hear Joseph whispering to Him, “I’m sorry for the smell, but we don’t do perfect here. It’s not Heaven, but I’m willing to do my best.”

The thing is, God doesn’t expect us to do perfect here, either. He knows us better than that. Perfection is reserved for God, himself, and for us in the next life when God will make us perfect. Here though, we don’t do perfect. And that’s okay. We just have to be willing, so God can work in and through us.

With Moses’ willingness, he led the Israelites to the edge of the promised land (Deuteronomy 31), and his story is noted in Scripture’s Hall of Faith (Hebrews 11:23-29). David’s willingness results in him being described as a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22) and the greatest king in Israel’s history. And Joseph’s willingness gave him the privilege of raising and protecting the Son of God (Matthew 2:13-23, Luke 2). 

In Hebrews 11:39-40, Paul tells us, “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”

So you see, we don’t do perfect here; no one does. What we can do is be willing to love, and forgive, and do our best. We can be willing to be led by God. And then, if we put our faith in Jesus, we have the assurance that we will be made perfect together with Him in Heaven.