Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Tales for Tuesday: The spatula theory

Today I was making baby food and I was scraping out the pureed carrots out of the food processor bowl with a rubber spatula.  And I got most of it out, and just rinsed out the bowl.  This doesn't sound very earth-shattering.  But it was pretty big for me.  I didn't take the time to scrape every last drop of food out.  I just did it good enough.  And when putting each little dollop into the trays for feeding, I just plopped it in there, not even minding that I got some on the edges.  I didn't even clean it up.  I'm finally getting to the point that doing it "pretty good" is actually great.  Trying for everything to be perfect is just exhausting and it will NEVER be that way.
Having a baby in the house is teaching me this new lesson - one that I have needed for a while.  And it's great!  Doing things just fine is still good enough and saves so much time and stress!  Today I was watching a show with Peter Walsh - my favorite organizer - and he was talking to a client.  She was striving for perfection, but because she could never get it perfect, she just stopped trying.  And everything became LATER.  But later never came.  Hence the horrible cluttered mess.  He told her that if she was looking for perfection, she was never going to find happiness.  How true is that.  Perfection doesn't exist in this world.  But happiness - joy really we can find. Joy in the Lord.  Joy for the blessings that He has given us.  Joy for each day that comes.  This is where the happy is.
I do sometimes like things "just so" but that tendency is getting less and less.  More with age, more with joy in my life, more with being a mommy.  I am enjoying doing things well, but quickly and NOT perfect.
So many thoughts from that spatula.  A utensil made to get every little bit out of a bowl.  But it doesn't have to.  It can just be a utensil to get the majority - quickly and smoothly!

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