Eight-year-old Jared and six-year-old Trent burst through the front door, tracking dirt onto the family room carpet. “Take off your shoes!” Jenny shouted. “I just cleaned in here. Now I’m going to have to do it all over again.” Fuming, she dragged out the vacuum again and began shoving it vigorously back and forth across the carpet.

Later that evening after the boys were in bed, Jenny sheepishly told her husband, Todd, about her outburst earlier that day. “Will you pray that the Lord will help me control my temper?”

“Honey,” Todd began, “I will, but I think the root of the problem may be perfectionism. I know you like to have things looking nice, and I do too, but the house doesn’t have to look perfect all the time. We have two healthy, active boys, and things are going to get messed up sometimes. We just have to accept that and deal with it.”

Jenny sighed. “I see your point.”

“Just have some fun with the boys and learn to let things go once in a while,” Todd said. “Our relationships are much more important than keeping a perfect house.”

We’re constantly being exposed to images of perfectly decorated homes that are always ready for a white-glove inspection. But most of us live in the real world with other people, pets, and problems. While it’s good to do our best to clean and organize our homes, we should not let perfectionism take precedence over relationships.

Perfectionists are bound to be disappointed in others and in themselves. The only perfect One is Jesus. Trust Him to make your way perfect.