Prayer can be difficult. We would like to go to God as perfect, flawless people, but that isn’t possible. It is hard to go to God when we are each in some way damaged. Every one of us have been the victim of regrettable things done by others. And we each we have done regrettable things ourselves.

That is why I can’t think of a better way to start a prayer than to say, “Dear God, please meet me where I am today.” Where are you today? You are the culmination of all your experiences. You are made up of the moments of kindness that you’ve experienced. And in part, you are made up of the cruelties you’ve endured. You are both the good things you’ve done in life, and the bad acts you’ve committed. Today, you are a patchwork quilt of all of those experiences.

The Good News is that God knows that we aren’t perfect. He isn’t expecting perfection. He only asks that we come to Him and seek His help to grow in emotional and spiritual maturity.

Many of us can be very hard on ourselves. I certainly can be hard on myself. But we have to remember that God does not expect us to be perfect. He knows that we will make mistakes. He knows that we will sometimes say and do things that we regret.

God also knows that our hearts may be broken. We may have had people reject us. We may have had people be cruel to us. He knows our regret, and He knows our sadness.

He simply wants to meet us where we are today. We can come to Him with our imperfect lives, personalities and emotions, and He will meet us without judgment. He only wants us to come to Him.

I have to remind myself of this every day. Like many of you, I can expect unrealistic things from myself. I expect myself to be perfect, and I beat myself up if I make a mistake. I can be unforgiving, and I am frustrated that forgiveness doesn’t come naturally to me. I can be very judgmental, and I want to be like my friend who doesn’t judge anyone.

And when we feel so very imperfect, it is tempting to avoid God. It is tempting to say, “Well, once I get my act together, then I will have a relationship with God.” But that isn’t what God wants from us.

Can you imagine if your child had the same attitude? What if you child thought, “Well, I’ll just have a relationship with Mom/Dad when I can make them proud of every aspect of my life.” As a parent, you would be heartbroken. You would tell your child, “I want you now. I want to be with you and guide you as you go through life. I don’t care if you aren’t perfect. I just want to have a relationship with you.”

That is how God feels about us. He doesn’t care about whether we are perfect. He just wants a relationship with us, as we are today.

Consider starting you prayers with, “Dear God, please meet me where I am today.” I promise you that He will meet you with open arms.

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