Perfect
January 13, 2008
{Blog entry inspired by a conversation in Madison, Wisconsin, my husband’s alma mater, last week.}
How easy it is to look at a child, and see nothing but a wide open expanse of possibility, an image that shows endless opportunities, an almost blinding light of potential and the grandest achievements imaginable. Dreams with shooting stars, perfect blue skies and crystal clear rivers that sparkle in the sunlight. A child comes into this world and a purity of possibility exists for just one moment, as the instant that first gasp of air fills the lungs, the journey has begun. The first stitch is sewn into what will eventually become a colorful quilt of experience, chance, luck, passion, forks in the road and unexpected twists.
It is only when many years have passed – and maybe it is neither possible nor worthwhile to examine the entire story of a person’s life until they have taken their final breath – that every piece of the puzzle seems to make perfect sense. As if there were no other possible outcome, no other journey this person could have taken that would have felt so….right. A person becomese who they are through all the experiences they have in life, with each and every one of those tiny ingredients playing an integral part in the shaping of that particular life story. A life with its own unique fusion of sliding doors, roads not taken, ones that got away, and all the miniscule, perhaps imperceptible moments that catapult a person down one specific road with or without much fanfare.
Perhaps if I had ordered fish one night at dinner instead of chicken my life would have been wildly different. Maybe I would have gotten food poisoning, met a man I fell in love with, moved to Idaho.
When does it all begin to make sense? When does our story start to take shape in such a way as to feel inevitable, maybe even pre-ordained?
We all want to believe there is a purpose for everything – most especially our own lives (Oh, the many things we so desperately want to believe!) We want it to somehow make sense, to be able to look at our own past, particularly any unpleasantness and say, "Yes, I understand this. This is how it had to happen." A + B = C, and there is no other possibility that can exist.
We want it to be that simple.
We want to believe we are living and creating our very best story, our very best selves. Our only possible selves, perfect in its entirety.
this post takes my breath away.
thank you for sharing this.
thank you.
(and as i get ready to take a deep breath and read this post again so i can write these words on my heart and think about them again and again, i also want to say – that ring is fantastic!!!!)
blessings to you,
liz
If we don’t believe, at least to an extend, that there is a higher purpose behind the things that happen throughout our lives, we would no doubt drive ourselves crazy with the “what if’s” and the “should have’s, could have’s.” I do believe in the higher purpose whenever I have done the best I could in a given situation; if the outcome is as desired, then I am deliriously happy and proud, if it isn’t then I can shrug it off quite easily as “it wasn’t meant to be.” Which is a much better place to decide from whether I then want to try it again, or refocus.
However, it is when I feel that I have NOT given it my best that I feel regrets and misgivings. And wonder whether my life could have taken a different direction had I done this or that. But maybe even this is all part of the “bigger plan?”
There is certainly comfort in believing that we are, indeed, creating our very best story. With all its imperfections and ups and downs. Like the perfect landscape that rises against the horizon with clear and well defined lines, yet when you look closer you see all its deep crevices and uneven surfaces that have weathered many storms, as well as the flowers greeting the sunshine every spring without fail, and the peaks from where the view is wide and breathtaking.
That was beautifully stated.
i do believe, on occasion when i take the time to contemplate it, that i am living the life i am supposed to live…it is during those uncomfprtable, trying times that i wish to believe something different or manifest something different…yet i am here, alive and doing what i love…so it must be right…i know we are on parallel paths at this time also…blessings, rebecca
It is so interesting that you write this today although I can’t say surprising. I was watching a story on 60 minutes last night about women in the Congo and how they are treated (raped, beaten) and yet they still get up and move on to the next day. As I watched this story with tears forming in my eyes, I wondered how did they get the life they have and I have this life…with all of my blessings. What did I do SO different that I’m here and they are there? Was it something in a previous life? OR is this just where I’m supposed to be and that’s where they are supposed to be? I think it could make me crazy if I thought about it too much! Thanks for writing this today my dear. xoxo melissa
ps. love the ring!
i’ve read this through twice and i’m still tossing it around…very thought provoking…does it ever make sense?…does it have to make sense?…what is it within us that longs for it all to make sense?…maybe the story never takes shape and feels inevitable…maybe that’s what faith is…what is the need to make it simple all about, really…and maybe there isn’t a purpose for everything but maybe we give purpose to everything…those are just some of the questions this post stirred for me…and a LOVE a post that leaves me thinking….
who would I be, where would I be if I wasn’t here right now ??? Thankfully, I can’t imagine being anywhere else, doing anything different than what I do day in and day out…..all of that for at least right now, is right !!!
you said what you said BEAUTIFULLY and since I live in MADISON WISCONSIN your post really caught my eye !!!!
well…you are right for sure…all the time I wonder about this and especially now as I face 8-10 weeks of “downtime” etc…it will be interesting for sure to see where this all leads…i can say at least for now, i get the door held open for me a ton and i also get a handicap parking sticker…umm…super sweet parking i guess?
all in all, this is such a minor thing in life and it does give one perspective to be thankful that it is just my knee and only a couple of months off to explore and look at life from a different view…thanks for the inspiring reminder that life has strange ways of working…i think i’ll go to the gym now.
j