In light of this being Easter weekend I am taking a break from my cleaning spree to focus on more meaningful stuff.

This weekend I want to focus on cleaning out my heart.

It’s easy to be all consumed with daily activities, schedules and chores and let the more important, deeper, stuff take a back seat. But I was challenged this week that If I want to really be a good mom I need to spend time working on me.

I have said this before, but I struggle with perfectionism.

I want to be awesome. But I know in my heart that I am not. And still I work hard to convince others that I am. I tell you what I want you to know about me. I show you what I want you to see. All in hopes that if you believe it, I will be able to believe it too. And I can construct a really beautiful picture of myself sometimes. A lot of us can, right?

What I was challenged with this week is the irony of this.

I know my life isn’t perfect no matter what I tell or show you. I hurt others, I don’t do my dishes after every meal, my decorating skills are only so-so, I yell at my kids, I yell at myself, I can be unkind, I gossip, I lie… and I could go on and on. My list of failures is lengthy and I beat myself up for it.

But God doesn’t. Through his son Jesus’ sacrifice He gives me grace when I don’t want to do the dishes. He gives me unconditional love when I don’t love myself. He gives me redemption for my lying.  He accepts the REAL me.

And if He does, why don’t I? It seems ungrateful.

So today, I challenge all of us to look inside and clean out a small corner of your heart that you know has some dirt in it.

For me, I am going to be totally honest with you and myself.  I wish my Easter eggs looked like this.

But instead they look like this. It’s the best we could do. They are, gulp, beautifully imperfect Easter eggs. And I accept them.

Happy Easter everyone!