We’ve all had them. A day where one unplanned event after another piles on top the over full calendar items already weighing heavy. Juggling it all is improbable at best and sure to cause a stress melt down at worst.

I had one of those today. A little surprising since my day was full only with a few home things like laundry and grocery shopping with writing projects to be my focus. I like to plan little breaks in writing so getting up to move a load of laundry through allows my brain space to ponder.

Idyllic really. No one at home but me, time and space to accomplish these few tasks to bless my husband, as well as our son and niece who are here for the summer.

There were competing forces at work wanting to prevent me from being an effective, gracious Christ-follower. There were several attempts to bring down the stress hammer in effort to shatter my composure. But God.

You know that’s really all we have on our to-do list right? Let go of our need to control. Lean in to the easy yoke of Jesus.

My yoke is easy and my burden is light.

In the middle of all the competing forces the Spirit whispered Truth; reminders of the deep, quiet place in my soul to be still and know that I was invited to retreat to at any given moment.

Including the stressful ones.

I don’t always choose wisely. I want to. I want to be God’s woman in my circumstances. All.the.Time.

However my perfectionistic tendencies have kept me from taking the Spirit up on that sweetly whispered invitation on too many occasions to count. But today?

Today I chose to be still within trusting His wisdom while the waves crashed on the surface.

We make our plans, but God directs our steps.

The stories of Peter and Jesus, their friendship and Jesus’s gentle, yet firm interactions with Peter have always spoken to me. I’m of Peter’s temperament. Quick to speak, slow to listen and quick to become angry. Maybe James had Peter in mind when he penned the opposite verse:

Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.

Peter was quick to act before thinking things through. Just like his reaction to seeing Jesus walking on the water in the middle of the night on a stormy sea. Based on the way Peter was portrayed in all the other recorded interactions my guess is he took exactly one nano second to say ‘If it’s you Lord tell me to come.’ I like to think of Jesus with a ‘I know how this is going to turn out yet I want to give Peter the chance’ tone in His response:

“Come.”

You may know how the story turns out, but there is a detail that bears a pause for reflection. Between Peter’s stepping out of the boat and floundering in fear: He kept his eyes on Jesus. The moment Peter looked around at his crazy circumstances and remembered he was defying the known laws of the universe, he started to sink.

As long as he focused on Jesus he walked above his circumstances.  

Peter was still out of the boat, walking on the water toward Jesus. Peter was above his certain death circumstances. The water was whipping and splashing on his cloak. His feet were wet. The wind was still blowing.

As long as he focused on Jesus he walked above his circumstances.

I know this detail is important. There are other places in scripture that tell us to fix our eyes on Jesus. To fix or focus is a way of demonstrating faith and trust. That’s why Jesus asked Peter

‘why did you doubt?’

When I was going through my day with so many reasons to look around at my crazy circumstances in stress and fear that was my choice point. Do I trust the whispered invitation of the Spirit to go deep with Him or do I doubt His Presence or ability and trust myself instead; trying to wrestle my way through the stress and make things turn out the way I planned?

Sounds like an obvious choice right?

Part of peeling off perfectionism is taking the risk to not pretend to be in control.

Part of peeling off perfectionism is making a different choice: to trust God and not myself. Click To Tweet

So that’s what I made effort to do at every new layer that was added today; all the unplanned items that needed immediate priority while still making other prior commitments work. I would have had a meltdown if I’d been operating in my own strength. But listening to the whisper, paying attention and choosing to let go of control & lean into the easy yoke made my day so much better.

In fact, when the obligations were done, My Father and I celebrated by having my favorite treat since childhood.

It wasn’t sabotaging a diet to eat this ice cream. It was a celebration of trust!

Perfectionism is prevalent. You and I can learn to peel it off and choose differently.

Keep an eye out for my e-course launching in August. There will be opportunity to gather with others who are in the same place; desiring to be free of the false perfect way. We’ll celebrate the small victories like mine today. Not always with ice cream, but celebrate we will!

Please share your ‘wins’ in peeling off perfectionism: here or on the Learning Along the Way Facebook page. You never know who needs your encouragement!