Present Over Perfect

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.

—Psalm 23:2–3

During Christmastime we find ourselves tempted to abandon Christlikeness in favor of overdoing. The season that centers around the silent, holy night, the simple baby, and the star quickly becomes the season in which we over-everything—overspend, overeat, overindulge, overcommit.

I fall into it every year, and one year, I was falling even a little bit deeper than usual. The stress and chaos were on the rise, and something had to change or I’d miss the loveliness of the season entirely. I stopped myself in the middle of it all—the trips, the wrapping, the cookies, the expectations—and I asked for help. I prayed for new eyes to see, for a way outside myself and my tense, swirling chaos. As I slowed down and listened, three words laid themselves on my worn-out spirit like a blanket: present over perfect.

I can show up with my perfectly wrapped gift and my perfectly baked cookies . . . and my perfectly resentful and frazzled self, ready to snap at the first person who looks at me wrong. Or I can rest my body and nourish my spirit, knowing that taking a grounded, present self to each holiday gathering is more important than the gifts I bring.