Perfection Is A Myth

source Twisted Sifter

During our summer vacation in England several people made the comment to me that we are the perfect family.  My first thought was, you haven’t seen us behind closed doors.  Don’t get me wrong, I have a wonderful husband and two great kids, but we aren’t perfect.  On the other hand, I do have “the dog of the world” who is pretty close to perfect. In my opinion though, perfection is reserved for God.  I have more than my fair share of bad behavior days.  I’m prone to nagging, over reacting, sarcasm and doubt.  The list goes on and on. For those of you who read my blog, but don’t know me personally things can appear to be joyful all the time.  That’s not the case.  We all have things that can bring us down: crazy family members, someone we know that has a drug addiction, illness, anxiety, etc.  The list is endless. There are many things out of our control, but we can control how we react to them.  I still haven’t gotten the hang of it yet, but I know people who have.

There were two scenarios that inspired me to write this post.  The first was the idea of perfection.  I recently posted a picture of my daughter’s bathroom makeover.  I would love for it to look perfect all the time, but that’s not the reality.  I continue to have hope that one day she will want it to look neat and in the meantime I just shut the door. Unless your Nate Berkus or Martha Stewart I don’t know of too many people whose house looks perfect all the time.  Actually scratch that, my friend Diane’s house is pretty darn close, but she is constantly vacuuming (due to pets) and fluffing pillows. I don’t have that kind of energy.  I’m learning to say “good enough” even though it’s really difficult for me sometimes.

The second was a post a friend shared on Facebook awhile back.  Deliece Hofen’s blog about living with cancer gave me a wake up call on how to live with adversity.  I will give you the cliff notes version.  At 18 she watched her mother suffer and die from brain cancer.  Her father was also diagnosed with cancer, but has fought it.  Her 8 year old son Braden was diagnosed with an incurable cancer at 3 and is fighting for his life.  She is a breast cancer survivor and also has Multiple Sclerosis.  This is one tough woman!  She has had more than her fair share of bad days, but she has chosen not to let them get her down.  She is a warrior and relies on faith, hope and prayer.  I cried the entire time I read her story, but by the end of the post I felt empowered by her.  She has chosen to not let things out of her control beat her down. You can click here to become part of Braden’s Army. If you are a praying person, Braden could use your prayers.

There are many hardships and tragedies in life.  I try to share the simple things that bring me joy.  Things aren’t perfect, but faith, hope, love, prayer and chocolate help keep me going.  What helps keep you going on a bad day?