Perfect Wings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVjbo8dW9c8

This link will take you to a YouTube video that ties in with the rest of this post.  I hope you'll take a minute to watch.  It makes sense  - I promise.  


"Someday we'll all have perfect wings."  What a powerful statment that comforts me when I am hurting the most.  When I am bashing myself because I made a mistake.  When I question why I am here at all.  It is what kept me sane during the last 8 months of pain.  It is what I think about when I really screw up.  

Who in this life is perfect???  Not me, by any means!!!   Seems the older I get, the more imperfect my body and mind are. When my body lets me down, I find myself infuriated because it isn't perfect. When I don't say the right words, I agonize over the mistake, and beat myself up about it for days.  When people I love are hurting - either in mind or body - I get so angry because their life isn't perfect and I CAN'T make it perfect.

But perfection CAN be achieved. I know the secret! Just watch the TV commercials and they will confirm this - you can be perfect!!!!    They will tell you how to achieve this perfection!  One swipe of this cologne will have all the men falling at your feet.  Wear this brand - instant perfection and popularity.  Use this beautiful eye shadow - instant perfection and you'll get the gentleman of your dreams.  Buy the latest dress, top, shoes, car, house, insurance, food - instant perfection.  Go to this restaurant - your meal will be absolutely, completely perfect.  The right car will transform you into the perfect "golden" person. 
If only ...........  LOL

One of my favorite tales or fables or whatever you call them, is about a Japanese artist.  He was painting a stunning picture of a beautiful rose with a stem and leaves.  On one of the leaves, the artist painted a hole in the leaf - as if a bug had chewed its way through the leaf.  A young man who was shadowing the artist to learn about painting, asked him why he had made such a stunning picture - only to ruin it by painting the leaf with a hole in it.  The artist answered that in life, there is always imperfection, even in the most beautiful flower.  The hole in the leaf allowed bad and evil things to crawl out through the hole and be gone.

I've thought often of that bit of wisdom - applying it to my own life.  It reminds me that no matter how hard I try to make things perfect - a dinner, an outfit, my hair, a lesson plan, a conversation, friendship - something can go wrong.  Sometimes it is such a tiny mistake,  that it shouldn't have made a single bit of difference - but that tiny thing can nag at you and nag at you until your "perfect" moment is ruined. Am I alone in this?  Do you also feel this way and then for weeks the "what ifs" invade your mind!  What if I had done this, or said this or changed this?  Would it have then been perfect???   

While I was in college at Phillips University, one of my professors quoted Rabbi Kushner quite frequently in class.  Rabbi Kushner wrote a book titled:  Why Bad Things Happen to Good People.  In this book, the Rabbi wrote about the challenges that he and his wife faced every day, raising a mentally handicapped child.  He wrote that friends and Jewish people of his congregation were angry that God had given this imperfect child to a Rabbi!  A Rabbi who guided his huge congregation in the Jewish faith.  Who ministered to the sick, the poor, the evil and anyone who needed him.  A Rabbi, of all people, should NOT have been given such a child.  Their child should have been PERFECT.  His answer was simple and incredibly powerful.  "God created an imperfect world.  In an imperfect world, bad things happen to good people." 

Absolute truth!  We do live in an imperfect world.  We do.  We ARE going to make mistakes.  Our lives ARE NOT going to be perfect.  We certainly need to be kinder to ourselves.  We need to forgive our mistakes, learn from them and move on.  Sometimes, things happen that will be beyond our control.  It happened!  Get over it and move on.  Don't nag at yourself for your mistake.  Don't let it fester in your soul until it poisons your mind and body.  Leave a hole in the leaf.  Let the bad crawl out and fly away.



         Because ....... someday we'll all have perfect wings. 







Peace, love and happiness,

Marty

Why oh why oh why

WHY!!!!!!!  WHY!!!!!

That question probably drives mothers bonkers more than any other word.  Any instuction is met with - Why???   I remember thinking that when I had kids, I'd NEVER ever answer "why" with:  Because I said so.  hehe - that slammed out the door as soon as my kids could talk!   SO........... to have some fun, and maybe nudge some serious thinking - here is a list of whys that popped into my brain!

WHY ....

 aren't doughnuts given their own food group?

does it hurt so much when you miss your grandkids/children/loved ones?

isn't there a hairspray called:  Oklahoma Wind??

aren't there binocular contacts?

can't veggies taste like bacon?

can't we go Eeny Meeny Miney Mo to choose a president?  (might even get better results!)

isn't the Super Bowl a national holiday, held on Monday, so that schools will close?   hehe

can't we fire every politician in Washington and start over?  Don't pass go, don't collect $200!

do fifth grade boys' feet smell like rotting things at the bottom of a trash can?  (in a closed room, shoes off, warm temps - well you get the idea).

isn't there a law declaring the 3rd week of February as a Teacher's Holiday, and all teachers get a weeks all expense paid vacation, to the Bahamas or Tahiti or Puerto Rico or Cozumel?

can't we send our earthquakes to California - they are all insured and know what to do!

are the Grand Tetons so beautiful and awe inspiring that they take your breath away?

can't you go back in time and watch your very own wedding? 

do cozy fuzzy warm blankets make such great snuggly nests - and grab hold of you when you try to get out of them on a cold wintery morning?

are men so stubborn?  SIGH

do students raise their hands ....... and start going oooh oooh ooh ooh?  I CAN SEE YOU!  I don't need ooh oohing!  Really! Truly!!!

can't I hold a sweet, sweet smelling baby in my arms once every single day???

did someone invent Ranch dressing?  Kids at school think nothing can be eaten without ranch!

isn't medicine free?

is there physical pain?  To teach us a lesson?  To show what joy is when the pain quits?  Just to keep us in line?  IDK

don't people come with their own warranties?  You can get fixed for free under a warranty!

do pancakes taste so good and yet have so dang many calories?

and ...... the ultimate why for tonight ....... Why am I still here typing on this dang computer when my soft fuzzy warm nest is calling my name?????

Night all - peace and love and fuzzy blankets.