I have had a deep thought percolating in my mind of late. I thought I would share it. It is along the same lines as the idea that "life is more about the journey than the destination." I have been realizing that life is less about what the beauty and wonder of our creations here on earth and more about us learning to become creators.
We do wonderful things here on earth. We create art, we create clean spaces, we create children and families and relationships and work projects and inventions and a million other little things. We like to make these things look beautiful and strive for some degree of "perfection" in these things we create.
But the reality is that often the things we create or are creating are no where close to "perfect." The house is often messy and the relationships can be messy too sometimes. Even when we feel we get something just the way we want it, life can suddenly turn it upside down and "mess it up."
By nature, I am a woman who looks for the straightest line between two points. The one point is where I am and the other is where I want to be. I am a doer. I want to check it off my list and I want it to stay checked. :) I want to drive the shortest, and fastest way to the store or the school. I want to order my life so that it works at maximum efficiency.
So this realization that has been coming to me has really shaken my paradigm. I am seeing that sometimes it is better for me to get up and walk upstairs to get something up there I need rather than ask my husband to bring it down with him when he comes. Why? Because I get the exercise of climbing the stairs and strengthening my muscles.
I am seeing that the purpose of picking up the toys may not be about getting the house clean but it may be about making me a better worker. Perhaps it is better to cook whatever I eat because the work of it will make me stronger and healthier than doing the easy thing or eating out or picking up fast food.
It has made me think about the Karate Kid movie (the original) where Mr. Miagi makes the kid do all those random chores. Maybe he didn't really need his fence painted or his car washed. The whole point was to build the kids muscles in the right movements.
It is okay if my kids are not perfect. They are in training. It is okay if I am not perfect. I am also in training. I succeed when I keep training. There is no "finish" to this work. I am in school. I am learning - often one mistake at a time.
I don't have to create perfection. I just have to grow and learn as I create.
This thought has made my house cleaning and cooking and mothering seem so much more purposeful and hopeful and positive. I hope it helps anyone else out there as much as it has helped me. Anyone get thoughts to add to this?
