permission to be human

Do you want to hear something ridiculous? As I near the end of not being able to walk/drive/do much I've been beating myself up about not maximizing this time. What the what?! Seriously, not appropriate.But that's what I do, I am a recovering perfectionist and the only work environment I've ever known is, let's say, a little achievement oriented. I'm goal oriented and have high standards for myself, but when that is combined with comparison it's an ugly recipe for disaster.But, GRACE. I mentioned briefly that GRACE is my word for 2016 and I haven't really understood the depths of that lesson until recently. Earlier this week I read an article a friend posted and the gist was that we need to give ourselves and each other permission to be human. We are not robots, we're not going to be productive all the time. There are going to be seasons of growth and seasons of waiting and seasons of pruning.I saw this quote today on Jen Hatmaker's feed and it struck another deep chord.As a perfectionist comparer I spend a lot of time in the past. Wishing things were different or viewing through an unrosy lens. My time in the present is also often misspent wishing I was more like a robot. But I'm not and you're not, thank goodness!So in addition to taking myself out of the running I'm giving myself permission to be human. To not be fruitful and productive ALL the time. Good grief, who wants to live up to that. To find grace, and joy in rest. To realize that all of the things are not really about me at all. And to remember the best things in life aren't things at all, they're humans. So give yourself permission to be one.