Earlier today, about mid-morning, I took a break from work and walked outside to catch a breath of air. I thought to myself, “Perfect! This is just a perfect day.” It was not the first time I thought that this summer, and hopefully it won’t be the last. The sun was shining, the temperature was about 23C, there was a lovely breeze to stir the flowers, and a few white puffy clouds in the sky for contrast. Another perfect day, or at least a perfect moment.
Of course my evaluation of the day was based on the weather, but it really isn’t the weather than determines the degree of perfection a day offers, is it? It felt perfect to me, but if the weather had produced a nice, soft, warm, gentle rain, would it have been any less perfect? Probably the farmer that is concerned about his corn and beans would think that was even more perfect. In this area we have had no rain so far in July, and some plants are beginning to show it.
In truth, what made the day perfect was not that the weather was any better or different than the day before, but the fact that I happened to take a moment in the middle of the day to notice. I wonder how many perfect moments or perfect days we miss because we are too busy to pay attention.
All of that suggests that perhaps perfection, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Is that possible? I don’t think I have ever looked at a snow storm and thought, “what a perfect day.” Well…maybe when I was 10 and school was cancelled, but that didn’t seem to happen very often in those days, even when there was lots of snow and the temperature was -20! Hmmm...perhaps my eyesight for perfection needs adjusting.
According to the Weather Channel, tomorrow is expected to be much like today, and the day after, and the day after that, and so on. I guess I will just have to wait to see if I can look at a rainy day and say it is perfect. And of course I will have no problem waiting a long, long time to test that theory out on snow!
In the meantime, may we each strive to be aware of the perfect moments that touch us every day. God's peace!
Posted by Carman
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I had a perfect day a few days ago.
ReplyDeleteIt started as a normal day.
I got up for a meeting and decided to go for a walk in the rain shower afterwards. I always find a walk in the rain nice because I'm walking around in something that isn't the most comfortable I'm able to recognize how unimportant the things I get hung up on are.
I later got home and freed myself of some "unimportant things," but as the day went on some reemerged so I decided to go for a walk. I've felt a little undriven lately, a bit less wind in my sales, so I asked God on my way out the door to give me something to appreciate during this walk.
I was out past dark and eventually headed home. Waiting for a bus I was greeted by a nice fellow who worked for a church and I thought perhaps this conversation was what God had in mind. As we talked a really gruff older man came and sat down and laughed abruptly, we took a look at him and he asked us a question. "Why did God create woman?" I got a feeling that I was going to be mildly offended but I asked politely to answer and he said "He had a bad day." I had expected that, but then he asked me a second question "Why did God create man?" "Because he had a worse day." He then explained that he wished more people to stop trying to see the good and bad and just enjoy the fun in a joke. I smiled after his explanation, though he was quite abrupt and rather rude from then on.
The other fellow from St Lukes church left and I sat with the older man by myself. He began discussing and sharing about a wide variety of subjects, but above all we spoke about inter-dependency. I mentioned to him that I had difficulty appreciating this, and that a friend of mine had only recently really made me contemplate that independence is an illusion by sharing with me about how the world is interdependent on everyone for food or work or housing. In any case this man I sat beside called me dumb in an angry voice and said that I should have been bright enough to see that on my own, that I had been dependent on my mother in her womb,on my father while I grew up, on the government for school, and my employers for work, and "that should be obvious to any idiot!" I was really insulted, and a woman that had sat down beside us immediately got up and walked away. I apologized for his feelings and mentioned that I felt that way because I've been very independent through my life working on goals that have only been important to me in the short run, and though the help I received is now evident to me, I didn't always see it. He then shouted at me "BUT DID YOU MAKE THOSE CANES?" I looked back at him and said, in a way I did, I made some great friends and when I was younger one made them for me with his time, and that no one else had the same friend as I to make these same crutches. He told me I was a liar, and I apologized to him that I had deceived him into thinking me untrustworthy... and then his bus came. He asked me very politely if I was going on the same bus as him, and I told him apologetically that I was waiting for the one just after. He spoke to a woman that was passsing by while still near me "You know what? I'm thankful and wish I had the incredible patience and politeness that this young man has."
He said it so sincerely that at that point I recognized there was more to this fellow than caught my eye. I read on a good friends office wall a little while ago that we need to be understanding of each other because we have no idea what battles the person next to us is fighting, and perhaps this fellow who had seemed so rude and bitter, yet so happy and unconcerned had some issues of his own, perhaps turrets syndrom, perhaps he's had a bad day, perhaps someone close to him had passed away, but by willfully listening I had made his day better, and he recognized me for that, and I thank God for blessing me, that I could make a difference to someone I hadn't recognized was in need.
Wow, Kyle! Thanks for your contribution. You find the most profound meaning in things. Have you ever thought of starting a blog? If you do, I recommend not trying to post every day but rather just when you think you have something signficant to say.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your contribution, dear friend.
Posted by Carman