Striving for perfection

I want to start off defining "Church". Mortal men are the ones who have delineated Protestant, Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, even Jewish churches. The Lord recognizes only 2 churches.An angel of the Lord said, "Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil." When Jesus Christ returns to earth, "every knee shall bow and every tongue confess" that He is their Savior. Those who cannot abide the day of His coming shall be taken from the earth until the end of the millenium and the great, final war. So when I refer to "Church" it can refer to anyone who is striving to please God and be like His Son.
I am grateful when Church leaders counsel those who are trying TOO hard. I realize that the majority of God's children err on the side of not doing enough of the right things. But there is a group, however small it may be, who try so hard to do good things that they can actually do harm. Recently a Church leader counseled those who might give TOO much time to Church service to remember their families need their time and energy, too. There are some who work so hard to get perfect grades in schooling that they become depressed or anxious when they only do "well". That can result in changing their focus from learning more to mourning over past performances. That in turn results in a downward spiral.
Recently I met a young woman, beautiful, healthy, slim and sweet. It soon became apparent that she focuses so much on striving for perfection that she is actually damaging herself. She was seeking counsel from a physical trainer about her "pooch"- meaning a tiny bulge of stomach. She really had no excess fat but was so concerned that "proportionately" (her words, not mine) her stomach bulged more than it should for her tiny size. She also asked a dental assistant about fixing some erosion in her gums caused by overuse of teeth whitening strips. It broke my heart to listen to her sincere, anxious concerns about what she sees as glaring flaws. I would not have been surprised to hear she was prone to eating disorders. She dresses simply and does not appear to be focused totally on what the world would define as goals for her outward appearance. I think she is just really trying to be as "perfect" as she can be, to the extent she understands it. She immediately dismissed my opinion that she did not have a "pooch" that "hangs out".( I have a daughter who similarly has a difficult time accepting or believing any form of praise.) You can tell her she's beautiful but she won't believe you. You can tell her she's good but she doesn't feel good enough. I wish I could convince those relative few who have such good intentions that they are loved and accepted as they are, not that striving to improve is a bad thing. There are standards of "perfection" which matter and those that don't. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Depending on who is doing the beholding, no one is perfectly beautiful and no one is perfectly ugly. It doesn't matter! Achieving a grade or score according to some man-made standard will change depending on who is manufacturing the standard. Learn what you can and do your best but beyond that, it doesn't matter. Strive to live ALL the commandments of God and strive to learn more but know that "after all you can do", you need the Atonement to be sanctified. Everyone does and you will not be an exception. THAT IS OKAY!  Being perfect in the Lord's meaning is more about our intentions and goals than our achievements. We will not be like God as mortals- ever. But we can be perfect in not losing our faith and trust in Him. We can be perfect in our resolve to control our appetites and passions as well as striving to learn wisdom. We may get discouraged. We may lose steam sometimes. THAT IS OKAY! Our outward appearance (beyond being neat and clean) doesn't matter. Our man-given labels or certificates don't matter. Our income or house size or car brand DO NOT MATTER!  I wish I could send that message and have it received- but only to those for whom it's necessary.