one does not conquer a black diamond in reverse

NOTE: i wrote this post LAST winter. so it's old. but it still holds true. enjoy! (also, just fyi, all the photos are from pinterest.) (also, this counts as day 26 of blogtober: share an opinion. this is my opinion on perfectionism. and salvation. bombdiggity.)

okay, so I'm going through a ski obsession. Most of my awesome friends snowboard. But a few ski. While I am not an incredible skier, it is one of my most. favorite. things. to do. EVER.

My mom and I were talking about my perfectionism, which has begun to become just a little bit overwhelming. I told her that I felt like I was trying to ski my way UP a black diamond.
For me, this is a fairly hilarious mental picture. Think about it: I ski without poles. So whenever there is a slight incline which I must scale, I have to do the wide-legged, inverse-snowplow, almost-cross-country-ski (which I hate) motion which is basically me flinging my self forward and hoping I can complete that ridiculous action again before I start to slide backwards.
It's lovely.
By trying to go up a black diamond like this? That would be self-inflicted torture.
So, perfectionism = making myself climb a black diamond.

It can't be done. I cannot be perfect. (Not to bust your bubble, but neither can you.)
So, we're all going to fail. We are all going to make bobbles and slip-ups, and it's going to hurt as bad as my legs do the day after skiing.

Here's the catch: this guy lives on our metaphorical ski hill. And he walks around to the people like me who are trying to get up the black diamond. Or maybe they aren't even past the bunny hill. Maybe they are injured and hanging out at the lodge or the first aid hut. Maybe they are even the people who are at that almost-Olympic-skier level that make you kinda sick, because they go flying down the mountain doing moguls and flips and bleh. Anyway - this guy has lift tickets. Free ones. And he sees people like me, and the injured ones, and the inexperienced ones, and even the awesome ones and he gives us free tickets. We don't have to try and get up the mountain on our own. We just have to stick the ticket on our coat and get in line for the lift. The ticket is unlimited. Every. Single. Day. We are allowed to go skiing as much as we want. The ticket gets us to the top of the mountain every time without fail.

(This is such an awesome ski hill...it should be a thing. Free lift tickets? Heck yeah.)

So, we can't get up the perfection ski hill. But this guy gives us a free lift ticket that allows us to get to the top of the mountain, so that we don't have to be perfect.

I'm just going to say it: Its GRACE. The ticket is grace and salvation and God's love for us. When we think about it like this, it's really kind of easy to grasp. All we have to do is accept the ticket, and then use the lift.

We don't have to be perfect, because we CAN'T be perfect. We will fail and slide down that stupid steep ski slope every time.

Thank goodness for free lift tickets.