Perfect slant

 I've gotten so much flack for using the word perfect in many situations. Let me walk you through my path for why I started using the word perfect for most things. It started with comments I heard people expressing for most of my life. 

"Things happen the way they are meant to happen." "Everything happens for a reason."  "No one is perfect." "Perfect is the enemy of good."

(Note: I have studied the bible and have read that Christ said some things about being perfect. Since it was part of my reason for searching for understanding of this word perfect, I am including it here.)

I've read in scripture that Christ said to "be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." If we are unable to be perfect, why would an all knowing being ask such a thing of us mere humans?

This led me to pondering how I personally felt about the word and continued with me thinking to myself...I feel the word perfect is relative to our past experience with it. I mean, the word has the potential to push one to great feats or to crush one's biggest dreams. It all depends on how you view its meaning. 

This thought process had me turning to the earthly definition of the word. Here is what I found: From the online Cambridge dictionary I got: "Complete and correct in every way; in the best possible type or without fault." That sounded pretty daunting. It makes the comment, "No one is perfect." understandably true. Even on our best days, most of us have a multiplicity of faults.

I continued, okay, what about the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary? "Being entirely without fault or defect." Once again this sounded highly unachievable for those of us that are human.

Next I tried the online Cambridge Dictionary..."Having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be." This seemed more achievable and not impossibly out of reach. But, there was one more...

The first position for the definition of the word perfect, according to Dictionary.com, was "matching in every detail the definition of an ideal type of something." Ok, I thought, so striving to be perfect is becoming the ideal or doing something in an ideal way. Learning is the ideal way, as far as I see it so...

...being perfect doesn't have to mean something so unachievable that we should give up before we attempt it. Perfect can mean a combination of these last two definitions culminating in encompassing the first two definitions. With the correct elements, qualities and/or characteristics (and all of these can be achieved with time, effort and dedication), we can match in every detail the ideal we are striving for. The process is the perfect way to learn.

Also, one thing I've noticed as I've gotten older is that, because we change as we grow, our ideal changes as well as our desires for those ideals. I'm not talking settling for less, I'm talking finding clarity in what we want, dream and hope for. 

Perfect isn't impossible, it is the journey!

But I don't like lemonade

    It is a metaphor, I get it, but I have never liked when someone ignored my concerns by telling me I should think more positive, and besides, I don't want to make lemonade! As a kid I felt that I needed to learn to think like everyone else instead of learning and accepting my own thinking. If I didn't think like them, I didn't fit in with them.

    As an adult, yes I've learned to think for myself AND I've learned that by doing so connects me to others who think like me...or at least similar. What I am still figuring out is that I don't have to belong to any one group of people. I can connect with many groups and many different people and still accept my own thoughts.

    It goes without saying, that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush...no, that's not the one. Oh, a rolling stone gathers no moss. No, that's not it either. Maybe, actions speak louder than words? Alright, whatever it is, it is great but I never seem to remember it. I never seem to have the exact words I want at the time I'm looking for them. I think of the perfect phrase, sentence, concept...days later and then it's obviously too late. 

    Coming to terms with that has made it, at least for me, much more comfortable to "fit in" with whatever group I find I'm in and see the value we all have simply being with each other for a bit. Maybe I don't like lemonade but I don't have to like it to make it to offer someone else.