We traveled to St. Louis to see my family for Christmas. Packing to take two under two anywhere is exhausting. We needed two pack and plays, one suitcase for me, one suitcase for my husband, and one suitcase for the kids. Also multiple changes of clothes for each child because who knows when it will be a pj day or a three outfit day. We also had to pack numerous bibs and pacifiers. We only packed one high chair because we couldn’t fit the other in the car. We packed a bag of toys, a bag of snacks and drinks, the gifts for my parents, the gifts for our Godson, and the diaper bag. We also needed bunch of diapers and wipes for each kid and the formula for the baby. We also packed baby medicines just in case.
After arriving, I realized we only packed one pair of shoes for the toddler. We were mostly packing at night and most of the kid’s shoes are in their rooms. Whenever we got to the shoes on the list, we didn’t want to disturb the kids. We ended up only bringing one set of tennis shoes that were too big for the toddler. The gravity of the situation didn’t hit me until Christmas Eve. We were getting ready for church when the meltdown happened. My meltdown. The girls were in cute dresses and jackets and didn’t have cute shoes. Even worse, the toddler’s shoes clashed with the dress and weren’t even functional since they were too big. I was upset because this was my chance to get a “perfect” picture of my kids and it wasn’t going to happen.
This doesn’t sound like a big deal to many, but it was to me. I tried hard to pack everything we would possibly need. I kept falling short. I forgot a bottle, part of our Godson’s gift, the toddler’s plates, and shoes.
I did all this work and fell short. This happens often in my life. Sometimes I try hard and fail. Other times, I try hard and it turns out alright but not perfect. We are all imperfect, sinful people. We don’t live the way we should. Sometimes we try hard to live a good life and do a good job, but it’s not up to God’s standard. God’s standard is perfection and it is an almost impossible standard to reach. Only one person was able to live a perfect life free from sin. That’s Jesus.
Jesus is fully God and fully man. Jesus lived a life free from sin and didn’t have to die. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life. Since Jesus did not sin, He earned eternal life. Instead of enjoying His reward, He chose to die on the cross for those of us who fall short. He sacrificed Himself for the sins of the whole world. God raised Him from the dead so we know His sacrifice was accepted for us. Through our faith in Christ and our connection to Him in our baptism, we have the forgiveness of sins and share in eternal life.
Some of us can barely live up to our own standards of perfection no matter how hard we work. Even if we could live up to our own standards of “perfection”, we could never live up to God’s standard of perfection. Only Jesus could live a truly perfect life free from sin. Through Christ’s death and resurrection we are able to share in Christ’s reward thanks to our God given faith and baptism into God’s name. Even though we live imperfect lives we are made perfect through Christ’s sacrifice.