“Better late, than never,” the old saying goes. Say what you will, but clichés endure for a reason – often because they capture truth in a short, pithy saying. It’s become fashionable to dismiss cliché’s, but I tend to enjoy them. I don’t always agree with every one out there, but often I find some comfort and wisdom in them.

I’ve been meaning to/thinking about/dreaming of blogging during Advent since it began on December 1. But between the busy-ness of the season and a head cold that has been beating me up for a good 10 days now, my intentions and thoughts and dreams had manifested into exactly zero blog posts.

Until today!

It feels good to back to this practice, even if it’s begun imperfectly and later than I would have liked. If I’ve learned anything in the couple of years since I last posted regularly, it’s that I need to be kind to myself about my imperfections.

I think that’s what I’d like most to convey to you in this post. This season will not be perfect. There will be plans and tasks that you hoped to accomplish, that came to nothing. That’s just reality. We all get derailed from time to time -whether by illness or life circumstances or any number of other things. That’s ok. Keep going, keep trying, keep doing what you are able to, even if it starts imperfectly and later than you wished.

Be kind to yourself.

I promise you, treating yourself with compassion will only increase your ability to be compassionate to others.

This Advent, may your inner voice be the kindest you hear. May you make room for your own imperfections, as well as those of others. May you know that God doesn’t need you to be perfect, others don’t need you to be perfect, they just need you to be YOU.