Mark Sorensen After years of working in various jobs that left her unfulfilled, Bronnie Ware began seeking employment with “heart.” It was working in hospice care that finally gave her the purpose she had been in search of. It was here, over the years she spent tending to the needs of and caring for those in their final days, that her life became transformed.
During her time in palliative care, Bronnie noticed that, within her conversations among those in their final days, a series of regrets began to surface. It was here, at the end of their lives, that people looked back and said, “If I could go back and do this one thing differently, I would.” Bronnie began to blog about some of these regrets and, before she knew it, her blog post on the top five regrets of the dying, had over 3 million readers. The regrets consisted of things like, “I wish I would have been happier in my life,” “I wish I wouldn’t have worked so hard,” and “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.” Yet, you know what the number one regret was?
This:
I wish I had lived a life true to myself, and not the life others had expected of me.
That’s a tough one, right? Living a life that’s ours and not spent living into the expectation of who people expect us to be? That’s the exhaustion of perfection which we talked about last Sunday in Harvest. So what did we glean last Sunday? Remember. Look in the right reflection. We mustn’t let culture dictate our value and worth. If we look into the mirror of society and culture to find our worth, we’ll never find satisfaction. Our identity is found in the reflection of the One who gave it all so that we might know that we’re enough. Be an audience of One. Once we learn to find our value and worth in our heavenly Father, we stay tuned into His voice. We do this through prayer, through worship, through the reading of His Word. And then? We choose present over perfect. Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:48? “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” To be perfect is an invitation into the presence of a perfect and good Father who simply desires us to sit in the midst of and reflect the love He makes available to us each and every single moment.
We must fight the desire to run ahead of God. Instead, let’s be fully present with Him, moment by moment.
It’s an incredible blessing to see where God is using and taking this “Perfectly Imperfect” series with so many of you. Three more Sunday’s remain. This Sunday, let’s break bread together. Let’s talk about the desert and the garden, hear a story of honesty and struggle from one of our own, and let’s once again regain some perspective that we’re never alone.
