Are You a Soldier or a Sculptor?

Imagine life is a battlefield and you are a soldier. Every day, you go out and fight. And every day, you are shot at from all sides—by sins and temptations and weaknesses. You try your best to avoid getting wounded, but in this battle of life, it inevitably happens. Over and over and over.

Sound pretty epic?

Well, it’s not. It’s TERRIFYING.

Because if you live like this, you will begin every day with fear and end every day with disappointment. You will lose. Every. Single. Day.

And THAT is what I call perfectionism. An attitude that plagues too many of us too often.

Now let’s imagine a different scenario. You’re an artist molding clay into a sculpture. As you work, you accidentally add too much clay on one side. You recognize it, remove some, and smooth it out. Later, you realize there’s a flaw on the other side. So you add some clay and fix it. You continue to repeat this process—over and over and over.

So, what’s the difference? Well, as a soldier, you end up dead. But as a sculptor, you end up with a masterpiece.

Never start a day with the intention of being perfect. In fact, even the phrase “I’ll do my best” is deceptive because none of us perform at our best all the time.

Instead, start your day determined to be aware of yourself and eager to improve. Strive to catch your mistakes quickly so you can fix them and learn from them. Develop the emotional strength to keep sculpting even when it gets tiring. And enlist the help of a loving Heavenly Father who can help you truly become a masterpiece.

Instead of fearing imperfection, learn to love improvement. Embrace the glorious gift of repentance and relish the peace that comes from forgiveness.

Hang up your combat uniform. 🎖️

Put on your art smock. 🗿

And go to work! 🙌