The Heart of Perfection: How the Saints Taught Me To Trade My Dream of Perfect for God's

Reflecting on her efforts to live a life of spiritual perfection along with her parenting mistakes, journalist and author Campbell (The New Faithful) provides examples from the lives of several saints in learning how to let go. For Campbell, letting go means no longer being an overachiever, reducing her obsessive guilt about living a proper life (and what determines such), negotiating a work-life balance, and minimizing her strident efforts to be a people pleaser. Drawing inspiration from saints such as Jane de Chantal, Alphonsus Liguori, Ignatius of Loyola, Francis of Assisi, and Benedict of Nursia, the author interweaves biblical scripture with stories from her own life as a wife, mother, and author. From these saintly examples, and from the standpoint of a recovering perfectionist, Campbell makes the case that God's love cannot be earned. The image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is used to emphasize the importance of surrendering to God's will and abandoning the desire for perfectionism.