Because the world isn't your report card…

I can still remember asking my mom the question when I was all of 7-years-old:

“Mommy, can I have a report card like the kids at school?”

I can still remember her smile. Her looking down at me. Her reply: “Honey, you are doing great. You work hard, you have a great attitude, and you’re learning lots. I’m so pleased with you. Why do you want a report card?”

Why did I want a report card? I don’t know. I was homeschooled. I didn’t have to have one. But I remember her kindly humoring me and taking a sheet of paper, writing my name, and making a list of A’s down the side with categories such as “cares for others,” “works hard,” and “listens well.” I clutched the hand-written report and beamed.

Now I have to chuckle and shake my head at this story. Partly because I still find myself 26 years later walking around the world and looking for a report card. Please? Or, worse–seeing everything in the world as one giant report card. Each day ends with a giant letter grade scribbled across the page of my life. Have you ever been there?

Sometimes it’s my kids. If we have a smooth day with cheerful attitudes or they sit quietly in church, I have an A. If they’re particularly sour or we had an incident at the store, I’m down to a D- and wish I weren’t even in the class.

Sometimes it’s my husband.  Even though my man is awesome, way too often I have believed the lie that if he’s struggling it’s because I’ve somehow failed on my end. Haven’t submitted enough or been joyful enough or haven’t given him enough lovin’. No matter what the issue is, surely his struggle must indicate my failure. It’s just another unfortunate report card.

Sometimes it’s my writing. Can I just be brutally honest and say that sometimes, just sometimes, the number of Facebook “likes” can feel like a giant report card? Sometimes, when my eyes are not on Jesus or my heart is in a bad space, it can feel like daily standing naked before an audience and watching a thousand thumbs point up or down. Is it any wonder writer’s block plagues us at times?

Sometimes it’s ministry, friendships, the state of my house or the number on the scale or a whole host of other ridiculous “whatevers” that that particular day might hold. Anything can be taken by the enemy and folded into a nice paper report card, by which my happiness can come …

… and go.

The truth is, whatever the report card of the day might say, if we look to it to find our worth we are well on our way to misery.

The truth is, the world is not your report card. 

The truth is, some days your kids are angels and some days they are … something else. Some days your man will be flourishing and some days he will struggle too … just like you. Some days you will be celebrated and some days you will be forgotten.

Just like Jesus. 

His children misbehave sometimes. His Bride struggles often. His Word usually isn’t “liked” much at all. 

What does that mean?

It means we must remember that our report card was a list of F’s for every category. But there is now, written in His blood, the name JESUS printed across the top, cancelling out every debt, every failure, every shortcoming.

We no longer need a report card. Jesus Christ nailed ours to the cross and told us, once and for all, we are accepted and beloved in Him. My mom’s words, “I”m so pleased with you. Why do you need a report card?”

You’re right, Mom.

I don’t. 

~

{This is from last year but I love, love, love this truth and cling to it constantly, because Jesus is enough and His blood covers it all! Be free today from the shackles of a report-card existence. I pray blessing for you today … thanks for reading}