{No More Perfect Moms} Get real!

I'd say Jill Savage wrote "No More Perfect Moms" just for me, but as part of the book's launch team and Holley Gerth's God-sized Dream Team, I've learned I'm not alone in both craving perfection and wanting to rid my life of perfection. It's in this spirit of community I've invited fellow mommas to share their imperfect lives this week. 

Today is the last day you can have a "mom university" delivered right to your computer when you buy Jill Savage's "No More Perfect Moms." Buy the book and receive FREE resources worth more than $100. This works even if you buy the Kindle version. Here is the list of what you'll get when you email your receipt to NoMorePerfectMoms@moody.edu.

Elly Gilbert is another member of the "No More Perfect Moms" launch team. And she's a fellow Kentuckian! I'm glad she took me up on my idea to swap blog posts and is sharing here today. 


________

When I was a teenager in a previous century, the phrase “Get real!” was a common comeback used to remind your buddies they need a reality check. It was a sarcastic barb tossed around as we waded through the malarkey of high school. It was such a popular saying, it spawned a movie and a TV series of the same name.  It was a slang term, making light of someone’s pie in the sky idealism.

Now, as a mostly-grown-up wife and mom, I have to encourage myself to “Get real!” quite often, but I do it in a much different spirit. Now, getting real is less of a tongue-in-cheek retort and more of a mantra for living an authentic life. Now, getting real means seeing myself as who I truly am -- a redeemed child of the King and a reformed perfectionist.

Getting real means forgiving myself when dinner doesn’t quite turn out to look like the image on Pinterest. Getting real means loving my kids through their messes and mistakes. Getting real means swallowing my pride and inviting friends over to my slightly-less-than-Martha-Stewart home. Getting real means giving grace. Getting real means accepting grace, too.

For most of my adult life, I’ve held myself to an unrealistic standard of perfection. My kids should behave perfectly in public, as they wear their perfectly pressed matching outfits, of course. My home should be gracious and inviting. Dinner should be well balanced and picture perfect. I should be a respected and beloved teacher in my school. I should never be late or disappoint anyone at church as I lead Bible studies and participated in women’s ministry activities. I should be the perfect wife, too. Can’t forget that!

Unfortunately, reality has looked quite a bit different than I had hoped it would. As a result of my drive for perfection, I have missed out on many joyful moments with my family. My failed attempts at perfection made not only me miserable, but my family, too! It has taken some time and prayer on my part to realize that I would have to “get real” with myself. Instead of relentlessly pursuing perfection -- and finding myself woefully inadequate -- I will embrace the real moments and enjoy real life.

When that perfection bug starts to bite, I have to remind myself to “get real.” There may be flour on the floor and sticky fingerprints on my backdoor, but my kids are happy. The smudges of chocolate on their faces and traces of marker on their fingers are from the cookies we baked and the pictures we colored together.  I might have a pile of mismatched socks taller than me, but I have time for an impromptu dance party in the living room. 

I wish I’d started “getting real” years ago.

Elly Gilbert is a majorly imperfect but decidedly “real” wife, high school English teacher, friend, and mom living in the heart of Bluegrass Country. When she isn’t chasing her 6-year-old twin boys or having a girls’ day out with her 8-year-old mini-me daughter, she’s probably crocheting, cooking, reading, or napping. Elly blogs, albeit inconsistently, at http://theunquietlife.blogspot.com.  

________
Disclaimer: Compensated affiliate link used, but most of you know by now that embracing imperfection is the theme of my year and "No More Perfect Moms" has been a huge part of that. Want more? Subscribe to get "Insights" in your inbox. Or follow me on Twitter.