It's a fresh Monday and the perfect opportunity to start fresh with new focuses for the week. As much as I would love to have started this day refreshed and ready to take on a new week, that really isn't the case. I'm tired today. After a battle of the wills to go to bed last night, My youngest was up several times throughout the night. I thought waking up 2-3 times a night with a child ended in infancy? Ha.. the joke was on me I guess. I keep reminding myself that when he's a teenager I will have to drag him out of bed, that these sleepless nights won't last forever. This morning as I opened my devotional, I was reading the qualities of a proverbs 31 woman. She's the beautiful example of a Godly  woman laid out for us in the bible. She's the woman we should strive to be. However, her qualities are hard to match. The proverbs 31 woman demonstrates love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control in her own life. My first thought as I read through that list is "wow, I can never measure up to that, I am so far away from being all of those things". In my opinion, there is nothing that makes me feel more like a failure than being a mother. I feel like I fail daily. Oh yes, I just said that. It's true.. as a woman, I know you have felt that way too. So, just as soon as the thought "I could never measure up" popped into my head, another thought came.."Thank goodness for God's grace." THAT is what I want to remind you of today.

The reality of this life is that we are never going to measure up. We are always going to fall short. There are days where we will totally rock it and other days where we fall flat on our face. It's reality and apart of this messy world we live in. As much as I love my children and my husband, I'm going to mess things up. I'm going to say and do things I shouldn't. It's going to happen, but it doesn't have to cause us to feel defeat. 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, "But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." None of us are perfect, but our shortcomings present the perfect opportunity for Christ to show up in our lives. We can't do this life alone, but with Him we can do anything, including asking forgiveness and admitting our shortcomings if the need arises.

So, whether it's your parenting skills that make you feel like a failure or perhaps even your pursuit to living a healthier lifestyle. I encourage you to give yourself a little more grace on those days where we simply don't have it all together. For me, I continually pray and ask God to fill in my gaps. Today I am reminded that I'm not perfect, but thanks to God's grace I don't have to be. The same goes for you. This week lets put our focus on being thankful for that unconditional love and grace and less time beating ourselves up for not measuring up.You never know what a little change of perspective can do in your day!