Do you ever feel like a failure?

I visited a new friend's house today. It was perfect. She is perfect. Her children are perfect and I imagine her husband is parfait as well. I'm not. I'm so imperfect. My imperfect 3 year old had so much syrup on her shirt that we had to drive home to change her bEFORE said playdate. When we ran in the house, I was reminded of the dishwasher that needed to be emptied so that I could start re-loading it again. The newly-folded basket of clothes greeted me vivaciously, but I quickly closed the door and went on our morning playdate. We had a great time. However, everywhere I turned was perfection. There was not a speck of dust on any floor and dinner was already cooking in the oven in the MORNING! I've done that like ONCE in my whole life! I think of myself as organized, or at least on top of things, but I saw those flashing words from the Wii in my mind: "FAILED FAILED FAILED". And the Wii is a whole another story! Anyway, I started beating myself up because I need to vacuum so badly that the dust bunnies are procreating. Now we vacuumed less than 3 days ago, but the floors are screaming for more. I have 2 baskets of clean clothes to put away and bills and receipts on my dining room table. Our bedroom is a mess on my side with paperwork. I need a home office and haven't figured out how to file away things/put them in a better place than a pile on the floor without one.

But you know what? I spent an hour in one of the children's classrooms this morning. I read to them and helped them with calendar time. I took our youngest on her very own playdate. I fed her lunch and we bought groceries for the whole family. I went to Bible Study last night instead of putting away the laundry or organizing one of my piles. God doesn't care if my house is perfect. He doesn't grade me on my ability to make our home look like something out of a magazine. I don't think I'll ever be that girl. And that's okay. I am perfect... PERFECTLY ME. I am who He created me to be. Some days I'll have it all together and some days I'll barely keep from drowning. And that's okay. He didn't create us to be perfect beings. He knows our imperfections. He sent His very own Son to die for our sins. So after beating myself up about my inability to keep up with my friends who have perfect homes and bodies, I reflected and realized that I am made in HIS image, and that's all that matters:). Pat yourself on the back today and show yourself some love! We are to love the Lord and be who He created us to be, not the girl next door. Isn't that great?