Perfection

 When we go to the beach for vacation, one of my favorite things to do is look for shells. I could spend hours on the beach, finding shells. But when I look for them I want them to be as close to perfect as possible. They can be beautiful but if there's a piece missing I throw it back. The boys, on the other hand, don't care about the imperfections. They are intrigued with the unique ones, not caring if it's only half a shell.

While we were at the beach last weekend I started thinking about my shell searches. It's very similar to how I treat things and people in life. I am a perfectionist. Not just for my life, but with Rob, our boys, my students, etc. If it's not perfect, in my eyes, then it's not good enough. But that's not how it should be. We are all imperfect because God only created One perfect person....and surprise, it's NOT me! 

I realized I need to start seeing people the way the boys look at shells. Everyone is beautiful in their own way. Everyone does things their own way and I need to be ok with that. It's ok if the dishwasher isn't loaded the way I would do it. It's ok if the boys don't color in the lines. It's ok if my students don't write the same way I do. Everyone is "perfect" in their own way, but no one needs to be held to perfect standards.

When the school year starts I am going to keep some shells on my desk as a reminder to encourage EVERYONE to do their best without worrying about being perfect. Life is too short to demand perfection and people are too beautiful just to notice their flaws. Next time you look at shells think about how you view them and if you view them the same way you view people in your life. Hopefully you notice the beauty over the imperfections.