I was looking through personal photos the other day and came across these. We were vacationing last summer and I was playing around with a new lens. I have to admit I had certain expectations for myself, even though this was my first time with it out of the box. I wanted to create perfection.

When I took them all I could see was all the technical things that weren’t quite right. But, taking a second look at them, I realized there is still beauty within. There is beauty in imperfections. Of course, I see beauty when I look into my daughter’s eyes. She radiates true beauty and joy. She challenges me and makes me want to be better.

I feel like this has been a theme for me all of my life. I have always had high expectations for myself, in everything I do. I don’t necessarily need to be the best nor am I overly competitive with other people, but I do want to be MY best. And for some reason, my best doesn’t always meet MY expectations. I’m working on it. I’m working on letting go of reaching perfection because quite honestly it will never happen while I am on this earth.

I can find beauty in the messiness of life, in the chaos of raising a family, in the constant struggle to balance work and family life. I’m striving to find the real, authentic ME, to accept who I am now, but moving toward who I want to be. My beauty within. The beauty God gave me.