As it happens, I have a Sunday ritual. It isn’t a ritual I planned out, nor is it even one I really want to have, but I have it nonetheless. I’ve always had it, really, as far back as I can remember.

Every Sunday I sit myself down and ask myself how my life could have gotten so messy. I’d started with such a beautiful schedule. How had it fallen to pieces so quickly? Why was the homework coming due so fast? Why had I left so many odds and ends untouched?

Calm down, I tell myself every Sunday, in accordance with the ritual. Surely it isn’t as bad as it seems. The schedule fell to pieces, yes, but bits of the pieces worked out. Only some of them were lost to the wind. From those completed pieces, I sketch out the bits that got away the last time.

Then comes the new lists. The homework lists, by subject. The lists of lists I’ve yet to make. The list of housekeeping items I keep putting off. As I type this now I have 5 sticky notes above my desk, each a different list. One bears the title “Things I’ve Been Putting Off.” It has 19 items on it at present. I’m sure there are more to add that I’ve forgotten for now. I think 19 is enough to start with.

“We do not strive for perfection,” I tell myself. “We do not strive for ‘best,’ or even ‘good.’ We strive for better, every time. Not everything on this schedule worked last week, and not everything on this one will work this week either. But you know? Last week, some things worked. Those things, we will keep. A few things didn’t work at all. Those, we won’t try again.

“Sometimes things just happen, and we can’t plan for those. We adapt, as we have always adapted. We will carry out this week knowing that we’ve carried out weeks like this in the past and will continue to do so in the future. We’ll learn from our mistakes and do better. This is not perfection. This is growth. This is progress. This, in all things, this is what Paul meant in Philippians when he said we are to run a race and one day reap the divine rewards. We aren’t there yet. We won’t get there in this lifetime. ‘Best’ is a fable on this earth. ‘Better’ is reality.”

I tell myself this in different words every Sunday, at about 4 PM. I finish the new lists. I sort out all the weekly goals and then divvy those up into dailies. Those get put in my bullet journal, a small notebook to take with me during the week. If I need more support, I make an hour-by-hour, sometimes minute-by-minute schedule on my phone to supplement. In small doses, those work well.

There are a multitude of Bible verses I could pull out regarding this kind of Sunday ritual. There’s James 4 and Philippians 3-4 and Luke 12 and Proverbs 6. You get the idea. To make this whole thing more religious, I’ll say that to my thinking, I write my plans out and hand them to God for review. He’s the one with veto power, and if He redirects me, it’s my job to go without grumbling—or at least, with minimal grumbling.

The existence of the Sunday ritual happened on accident because I never intended to fail each time. Every week I trick myself into thinking this time will be the last time I ever have to reflect and think, “how could this have gone so wrong?” The reflection is important, but almost more important than any of that is how every week, I pick myself back up and dust myself back off. I tell myself “this will be my week,” and remind myself that with God, I have the strength to make it through.

So do you.