Thursday, November 13, 2008

Perfect Will Do Nicely

My husband calls me a perfectionist. That is not an endearing term in our house. Perfectionist means you are picky and won't let well enough alone. He does have a point. If something is not quite right, it bugs me. If a picture is tilted, I HAVE to fix it. If things aren't placed in the right position on a table, I fix it. I want things as perfect as they can possibly be. My dear husband has had lots of years putting up with this. I think that is what prompted him to react as he did to my furniture moving episode. It went like this.

While was husband was gone to work I moved our couch. It has a very large mirror over it. The mirror was now several inches to the right of the couch instead of being centered. He took one look at that heavy mirror and knew what was in store for him, the hassle of more holes, more trying to lift it into place. He promptly said, "It looks fine."

Now folks, even a non-perfectionist would realize a mirror hanging half way over part of your couch and half way to the side of it is NOT going to do.

I'm getting smarter. I didn't say anything. I simply waited until he was gone, took the mirror off the wall, measured (getting the measurements right was a miracle) and put the screws in the wall. When my husband arrived home all the tedious work had been done. He graciously helped me place the mirror on wall. Now we're both happy!

I understand my perfectionism is a pain. I'm really trying to do better and, as my husband would say, "Leave well enough alone." It's not easy!

There is one thing I will not stop trying to make perfect. ME. The Bible says I am to be conformed to the image of Jesus. Quite a task in my case! If I had to do that on my own I would be very frustrated. The secret of being perfect in God's eyes is to let his Spirit do it for you! He'll do all the tedious work! All it takes is listening to his voice and letting him direct our actions, thoughts, words.

Trying to let God's Spirit perfect me, Gloria

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