When You Can’t Do It Perfectly, Just Do It Anyway
—Grace & Truth Linkup

I want to do it right. Whatever it is.

I want my kitchen sink to stay emptied. I want my car to be full of gas. I want my blog deadlines met on time.

And I want my quiet time with God to be rich.

But none of these happen all the time.

And when I know I can’t do something perfectly? Sometimes I’d rather not even start it.

But that’s flawed thinking. Doing something imperfectly is often better than not doing it at all.

I’ve been relearning that again specifically with my Bible reading. My preferred plan for Bible study is to read my daily chapters each morning, review my previous notes on those chapters each afternoon, then journal new thoughts about them in my Bible notebook.

But I kept getting backed up. I might do the morning reading, but then miss the afternoon notetaking for several days in a row. So I stop the reading altogether for awhile, in hopes of catching up on the journaling. Which sometimes happens. But often does not.

I’m tempted to stop it all because I’m hopelessly behind. 

Do you know this cycle, too? It usually ends in a deadstop.

So instead, I’ve been trying a new approach. And it’s working.

I’m cutting out a few steps. I’m just doing the bare bones for now. I still try to read the chapters each morning and listen to how God is speaking through them fresh that day.

Then that’s it.

The next day, I move on to the next chapters. They’re not being documented in my notebook, or journaled about for future years’ reading.

But that’s okay. And even when I skip a few days or weeks altogether? That’s okay, too. God is still with me. Still present. Still actively engaging me in daily conversations in multiple ways.

I still prefer my original pattern of doing the whole thing: reading, reviewing, journaling. And there are days I still make it.

But in the meantime? I can’t wait for perfection. I can at least do my readings. I’d rather stumble forward awkwardly than lose progress altogether.

In this week’s featured post, Amanda shares some Bible study tips for us on our busiest days on her blog, Inspiring Passion for Jesus Christ.

Busy Day? Keep Your Quiet Time Simple (Bible Study Tips)

May she encourage you as she did me to let go of the guilt but still hold on to God in the busy days.

Thanks for sharing, Amanda! Here’s a button for your blog.


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Does perfectionism slow you down? How do you overcome it? Share your thoughts in the comments.

5 thoughts on “When You Can’t Do It Perfectly, Just Do It Anyway
—Grace & Truth Linkup

  1. Linda Stoll

    Love this post, Lisa! Perfectionism is exhausting, discouraging, highly overrated.

    Aiming for excellence keeps our standards high, but there’s something freeing and emboldening about that goal.

    Grace, grace.

  2. Trudy

    I love this, Lisa. I’m trying to allow myself more grace, too. This reminder is so encouraging – “God is still with me. Still present. Still actively engaging me in daily conversations in multiple ways.” Thank you! Love and blessings to you! And have fun with your precious granddaughters!

  3. Barbara Harper

    Thanks for featuring this post! I so agree. Routines can help us be consistent and get more out of our Bible study, but then we can feel like we haven’t had quiet time “right” if we didn’t go through our routine. I love how she compared it to our other relationships–sometimes we communicate in short bits or on the go, other times we make special times to be together. One of my mottoes re quiet time is “anything is better than nothing.”

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