when the harvest comes

Make your peace with imperfection and you will be free, truly free. Learn to be comfortable in your own skin. Grace lays hold of us more firmly when we come to grips with our own limitations. No one is perfect. This side of eternity, none of us will ever be. 

Why do you beat yourself up so? Cease striving and know that God’s grace is enough to carry you.

He is the farmer, the seed, the light and the water altogether. What are you? As a start, we are soil. That is all. And what part does soil play in bearing fruit? Receiving and waiting, that is all. Soon, you will see the kingdom of God growing up in you, fresh and green. Because of his grace and goodness, he makes you something more than dirt.

But, listen: if weeds should grow up, coiling their shoots around you, sinking their claws into you, he is able to pluck them out when the time is ready. But you may wonder why he lets them grow so long. It is because the harvest is still a ways off and plucking the weed may also uproot the stalk; yes, believe it or not, killing the thing that's killing you could destroy you with it. It is not that it would not be good to be rid of the weed. It's just that all this must take place at the proper time, when you have grown strong enough to withstand the work. So, in his mercy and his wisdom he waits until the harvest when the weeds will finally and completely be rent from the life that endures underneath. Then, in fact, the whole field will be cleared. 

So, until then, make peace with the thorn at your side. No one is perfect. You are free to be yourself now even as you will be free when you become more of yourself then.