I am a perfectionist. I take on far too many jobs and then expect myself to do them all perfectly. When I began reading chapter 3 in Search for Significance, I thought I was doing okay in this area. But I soon realized I wasn’t.

It started with the house. Somehow it reached a state of chaos that left me wondering where to begin. The tables were covered in stuff. Jackets, pocket trash, backpacks, clothes…The floors had been taken over with toys, books, and more clothes. The kitchen looked like battle lines had been drawn between the sink and the stove.

My fails then moved on to my job. The platform I was using to email my students malfunctioned and sent them an unfinished email of garbbaly-gook. Of course this was right after I had given them a small lecture about checking what they had written before hitting send.

Then the email crisis continued. I sent emails not once but twice to my boss with glaring typos in them, as I audited a class with her so I could teach it. The class? Business Communication.  Not a big deal normally, but those were the weeks the class talked specifically about email communication, and you guessed it, double checking your writing. I’m a Writing teacher. I should have known better.

The fails finally engulfed me with the kids. Three little boys, by myself, all week. I had planned fun outings for us, but in lieu of my other failures, we skipped the outings to try to win the war with the dirty house. Fun summer memories. And just for good measure, I sat them down with Kindles for several afternoons, so I could try to redeem myself after my failures at work.

One or two of these situations wouldn’t have been too bad, but all in the same time frame all most undid me. But they also began to help me to clearly see how I am a slave to the lie:

 I must meet certain standards to feel good about myself.

After all these fails, I wanted to beat myself up. The frying pan lady who lives between my ears began to yell and scream at me. But God wanted me to hear a different message:

 Because of Christ, I am fully pleasing to God.

Because of what Christ did on the cross, I don’t have to stress about being perfect and doing everything just right. This message frees me. Instead of performing from a place of fear and stress, I can perform from a place of confidence knowing I am loved by God No. Matter. What.

That message is at the core of chapter three, “The Performance Trap.” This week as you study your eyes will begin to open to how this lie is affecting your own life, even in ways you don’t realize.

As we begin our study this week, let’s discuss:

Why do people use performance as a measure of personal worth? How do you think it affects their lives?

How does the false belief “I must meet certain standards to feel good about myself” affect your life?

Additional Resources: