I’m not perfect. No. Really. I’m not perfect.

However, when I take pictures and post them to social media, I want you to think I am.

I want you to think I have the perfect life.

The perfect family.

The perfect kids who are always dressed to the nines, clean, neat, tidy and say things that will either make you smile and laugh, or shed tears while you say, “oh that was so sweet.”

I want you to think that my house is clean, all the time. I want you to think that it also smells as good as it looks and that we never have any issues with it, even though it is over 120 years old.

I want you to think that I am the perfect “whatever”.

I want you to think all of these things because the reality is – I am not perfect.

Now, I don’t say all these things for you to feel sorry for me and feel the need to lift me up with overwhelming mentions of praise and atta-girls. I don’t need that, and that is not my purpose for this.

I say all these things because there are some out there who, like me, try to share with the world our completely unrealistic Pinterest perfect lifestyle – all for the purpose of hiding the fact that we are real, down-to-earth, perfectly imperfect human beings living each and everyday the best that we possibly can.

You see there is this myth that we need to be perfect and fit the mold of everything in life.

We often trade authenticity and uniqueness for perfection and trendy.

To be honest culture drives us this way and so does most of social media especially Pinterest.

Now, I have nothing against Pinterest – I am on the site and even have boards filled with pins. However, Pinterest has us living in a world that often is unrealistic and leaves us striving for that perfect whatever.

So I am not perfect – but rather perfectly imperfect and totally ok with that.

What would it look like if we all shared our unfiltered, unedited, imperfect lives, rather than trying to get the best shot, with the best light, with the most perfect scenario in place? Have you ever thought about that? I have. A lot.

So here is a glimpse into my perfectly imperfect life.

I don’t have a bikini ready body even though I exercise almost every day. I exercise for two reasons – the first reason I do want to be healthy – I enjoy living. The other reason is I love food, a lot. The more I exercise the more food I can eat, especially the really good tasting food.

I’m not the perfect follower of Jesus. I am moving forward in my relationship with Jesus, but I am definitely under construction. I don’t pray like I should. I don’t read scripture like I should. I have thoughts I shouldn’t, and even say those words that followers of Jesus ought not to say.

I am not the perfect wife. There are plenty of times my husband comes home and there is no food to be found anywhere, let alone on the table hot and ready to be eaten. I have my faults. I forget things. I make mistakes, all the time. I get grouchy and tired and have my “I need a snickers” moment too. I have misunderstandings and fail to communicate properly usually once a day, if not more.

I am not the perfect mom with a perfect house and perfect kids. My house is usually a mess, with shoes and toys strewn from one end to the other. I’m pretty sure every lego we own along with every Shopkins toy is currently on the floor of my kids bedroom.

I am sure I let them play their iPads too long, and watch TV too much. I don’t vacuum the floor every day or clean-up the kitchen after each meal. I sometimes lose my patience and raise my voice a little louder than I should.

I detest crafts and glitter – a lot. I don’t enjoy glue, paint or sticky stuff that takes years to get off.

There are days my kids eat cold pizza for breakfast, or a granola bar and fish crackers. Why? Because there are those days…and I figure it’s better to have something in their stomachs, than nothing at all. Then there are those same days they come home, and because of our crazy schedule, dinner consists of dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets (because they are the coolest) at 7:30pm on the couch. By the end of the day, when both my kids are sleeping, I am happy we all made it to the end of the day alive and in one piece.

I am a working-mom. There are days I feel the tension to be a non-working mom. There are days I feel less than because I am not home with my kids all day creating things (these would be non-sticky crafty things of course). I feel the stress of not filling their brains with knowledge.

I often feel bad because I love my job. I feel like I shouldn’t love my job because I have kids.

But. I do.

I love my job.

I love every part of my job. I love that my job affords me the ability to work from home some days. I love being a, “working-mom,” and am proud that I am. I pray that my kids will see the hard work and dedication I put into what God has gifted me to do in this life.

As much as I would love to say I am perfect, I know I am not. That is ok.

I will guarantee that even though I am not a perfect “whatever” that my family knows without a doubt I love them like crazy.

Is this perfectly imperfect life an excuse to not live each day the best that I can? Absolutely not. We each need to wake up each and every single day with the full intention of sitting on the corner of awesome and bombdiggity and being exactly who God created us to be.

Nor am I writing this to create an excuse for my messy house, unkempt hair, or breakfast pizza.

I write this because I see so many people trying to live as if they are a perfect someone else, myself included. I write this because we have this false sense that we have to be that Pinterest perfect person, with the Pinterest perfect life, and the Pinterest perfect home.

We don’t.

We don’t have to be Pinterest perfect anything.

All we have to be is who God created us to be. God created us beautiful and sacred. God created us to do awesome things in this life – not focus all our attention on looking and being perfect while doing them.

If we can focus on being who God created us to be, instead of striving for perfection and competing with everyone else, then we will achieve more in this life than we will ever know.

So I’m not perfect. I’m not perfect at anything and that is totally ok. I am living into who God has created me to be – a beautiful and sacred daughter of the King, who is imperfect and saved by grace, doing the very best that I can each and every day.

Be real. Be awesome. Be who God created you to be.