"Perfectionism is self-abuse of the highest order."
Ain't that the truth.
Every time I get into one of my perfectionist moods,
things go wrong...
very wrong.
Sarah has a saying,
"progress, not perfection".
Today she tells us the story of when she and her 11 year old daughter tried to recreate a French salad potager they had seen in a magazine.
Try as they might, they couldn't get it to look like the picture.
There was mud on the outside of the pot that they could not get off.
Her daughter said "but it doesn't look like hers",
to which she replied "No, it doesn't.
It looks like ours.
Ours is great.
Fine.
Close enough."
Start Quote
The glamorous lifestyle gurus in the books, magazines, and television
have full-time professionals working for them, including stylists
-stylists who wave magic paintbrushes dipped in burnt sienna over mud smears on terra-cotta pottage's before the flash pops or the tape rolls.
'It's image, illusion, make-believe.
It's a million-dollar industry.
What we're seeing isn't always [reality].
Now this,'
I pointed out with satisfaction,
'is real, mud and all.
It's Real and it's wonderful.'...
How much of our lives is frittered away
-spoiled, spent, or sullied-
by our neurotic insistence on perfection?
Perhaps our parents expected us to live up to a standard
they knew they themselves could never achieve.
Certainly they wanted more for us.
But more of what?
Misery?
Haven't you had enough?
Today, accept that perfection is unattainable.
In real life we should strive to be our best - not the world's...
Perfection leaves so little room for improvement.
So little space for acceptance - or joy.
On the path we have chosen,
progress is the simple pleasure to be savored.
End Quote
We have been commanded to
"be ye therefore perfect" -NT
But perfect doesn't mean what we think it means.
It does not mean free from fault or defect, as our Savior was,
it means complete or whole.
Perfection in all things is not possible in this life,
Jesus was the only one who was and who ever could be perfect...
it is through Him and His atonement that we can be made perfect,
or whole.
Trying to be perfect sucks.
But trying to be whole?
Trying to be complete?
Trying...
Trying to be your best,
with Divine help,
that's pretty awesome.
Enjoy the progress you've made.
"Life and potagers don't have to be perfect
to be pleasing."
Here are some great talks about it,
happy reading.
***
Gratitude Journal
***
1) The twins. Check out a play session Robbie caught. The twin thing is real.
2) Hearing my sister's voice again.
3) The kids whined, cried, and fought all day...so we took it easy in order to survive. Easy days are good.
4) Nachos for dinner. Pancakes for the kids. Easy peasy.
5) Watching the Little Mermaid. Thank you Alan Menken for some of my favorite Disney songs.
2) Hearing my sister's voice again.
3) The kids whined, cried, and fought all day...so we took it easy in order to survive. Easy days are good.
4) Nachos for dinner. Pancakes for the kids. Easy peasy.
5) Watching the Little Mermaid. Thank you Alan Menken for some of my favorite Disney songs.
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