Today, like most mornings, I sat at my dining table with my cup of coffee and Five-Minute Journal. As I struggled to scribble my thoughts onto the page I could see my oldest son across the table writing away. He too was scribbling his thoughts into his Five-Minute Journal. But he was writing with certainty and confidence. Two things I was clearly lacking today.

Most days there is this false perception of perfection that lingers – daunting me, filling me with doubts. Taking a small, simple task and turning it into something super strenuous.

Elijah had already completed his page and ran off to play with his brother. Still I sat staring at the same page. What should have taken five minutes or less was quickly becoming ten minutes or more.

Suddenly, my phone vibrated. Ahh yes – a distraction from this now tedious task. It was a text from a friend. Eager to evade my current mission I opened it. She sent me a picture. But not just any picture. A picture with words. A picture with these exact words…

“Perfection is annihilation. It paralyzes us from working from the heart. Humans by nature are not perfect and imperfections are what make the world beautiful.”

On this beautiful, brisk Monday morning I’d like to remind someone that perfection is an illusion that seeks to distract us and defeat us. This week when that false perception of perfection starts to linger – remember that imperfection is beautiful.