Perfectionism and Risk-Taking

My son Jaron (5) has a huge problem with failure. If he can't do something perfectly, he won't even try. If he makes any mistake at all, even in something incredibly minor or insignificant, he doesn't know how to cope. As a result, he is very reticent to try anything new.

I know that I have some of the same tendencies. If there is a huge risk of failure, I often do not even want to start the task. While I'm not a perfectionist like Jaron, if I can't do something with excellence, I will often procrastinate so that I have an excuse for not living up to my expectations.

I wonder how some of these tendencies transfer into our spirituality. A relationship is far less measurable than other "tasks" that we might be attempting to accomplish. And yet, that may make spirituality even easier to fail at, and therefore difficult to attempt.

Grace is a tricky concept to embrace when perfection is the desired outcome. I wonder how often we hold ourselves up to higher standards than God even expects of us. Living in grace means living in freedom - freedom from the fear of failure, freedom from our own expectations, freedom to try new things, freedom from guilt and shame.