YOU ARE ENOUGH: When God’s Grace Covers Our Imperfections

"Enough. There is never enough you can do to help others. Enough."

'Mrs. B' (as the cool kids called her) paced back and forth in front of our 3rd-grade classroom, administering the weekly spelling test. Her gum cracked, and her high heels clicked, interjecting tension between my slumped shoulders.

Spelling came easy to me, but with sharp lead poised on that pale blue line, my mind went blank.

All the pencil scratching stopped around me. I panicked.

"Enuf," I wrote.

It didn't look right, but it was time for the next word.

"Telephone. If you don't get a good grade on this test, I will call your mother on the telephone. Telephone."

Giggles erupted around me. Oh, that 'Mrs. B' was a jokester, but perhaps she wasn't kidding.

Cheating, lying, stealing - these were unthinkable actions to a Sunday School girl like me, but on that day, I stole a look over my classmate's shoulder and solved my immediate problem.

Quickly erasing my first mistake, I made another.

"Enough."

That word has haunted me ever since.

Every time I write it, I am reminded of all my shortcomings, of how I don't have all the answers.

I live with a nagging sense that everyone else has the Christian life figured out, while I make wild guesses, hoping to pass through.

For far too many days, we all fake our way through life's tests, desperate not to fail the people around us, trying to look like "A+" students when, in reality, we're a solid "C-."

We smile and nod in Bible study when we should raise our hands and ask questions.

We struggle to carry loads we're not equipped to bear. We're halfway through dinner before realizing that we never said grace.

But God gives us grace anyway.

The Heavenly Father isn't interested in how the world grades your efforts.

The world says you must earn your way, but Jesus says, I have made a way for you.

He's more interested in your heart than your report card.

If you make a mistake, He wants you to bring home your papers, so the two of you can go over the day's problems together.

God knows there are some lessons we may never master this side of earth's classroom, but He still adores us and proudly displays our latest projects on His refrigerator.

Because we're His kids.

In His hands, you and I are enough.

"And so I am sure that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it on until it is finished on the Day of Christ Jesus." - Philippians 1:6