Thanks to all the Beyond Blue readers who told me to go gentle on myself regarding the mistake I made in my first Heath Ledger post. A few of you mentioned perfectionism, that ever-present battle to expect error-free performances from myself every time. Interestingly enough (and this happens a lot), my morning devotion today was about perfectionism–an insightful meditation by Saint Francis de Sales that I thought I’d share with you:

My first rule for you is this: as you have made a general and all-inclusive resolution to serve God as best you can, do not waste time examining and minutely analyzing how best to do it. You know what God wants in general: that we should serve him my loving him above all things and our neighbor as ourself. That is enough. You must do this is good faith, without trying to be too clever and subtle, doing it all after the fashion of this world where nothing is perfect, doing it in a human and time-bound way until the day comes when you maybe able to act in a divine and angelic way in the light of eternity.
It will not support your general resolution if you are restless, eager, and agitated; the desire is right and good but it must be peaceful. I expressly forbid you this sort of over-eagerness, for it lies at the root of every other imperfection. Therefore do not inquire so minutely whether you are being perfect or not. This kind of examination is futile, for even if we were the most perfect people in the world we should neither know nor realize this but always think ourselves imperfect.
In our self-scrutiny we should never aim at discovering whether we are imperfect, for this should never a matter of any doubt. It follows that we should not be astonished to find ourselves imperfect, for we should never see ourselves otherwise in this life; nor should we let this upset us, as it cannot be helped, but rather let it be a cause for humility, for this is the way to correct our faults and gradually improve. This is indeed the whole poit of our being left with imperfections.