Finding the Perfect and the Beautiful

     At the end of September, I attended a women's retreat. I had a great time. I was able to connect with old friends and make deeper connections with the friends I had come with.  The speaker was a woman by the name of Judy Howard Peterson. She was an amazing speaker. She spoke with humor and passion. She shared about her life and some of the struggles she had gone through. One major struggle in her life was a series of miscarriages, about ten total. She talked about struggling with God and her journey through the trying times. The message from her "mess" that she shared with us was, to look for the "Perfect and the Beautiful", that in everything look for the perfect and the beautiful. It seems like it would be hard to find those two things in the midst of such grief and loss, but she did. At the retreat she gave each one of us a copy of the mini footprints, of one of her babies that she lost. Those footprints were so precious, perfect and beautiful.
     Her courage to look at something so painful and find something so beautiful really has encouraged me in my everyday life. I often miss the perfect and the beautiful. This past weekend, I finally was able to get into my yard and tackle the madness that the front lawn had become. I finally got the parts to fix our electric lawn mower. I finally borrowed my dad's electric hedge trimmer, I was ready. The sun was out and it was a perfect day to beautify the yard. As soon as I cut one piece of lengthy ivy, I realized to my dismay, that I had also cut the extension cord. As you can imagine, I was frustrated. I went in the house, shoulders drooping to whine to Malcolm and tell him my sorrows. He thought it was funny, he said, " Oh, Charissa you got to see the humor in it," I didn't. I left to get a new extension cord. I went to the local hardware store by my house, I think it's been around since the 1940's. They were so great. I had a new extension cord in my hand, I told the guy working what had happened and he told me to bring in my old one and he would fix it, he said that I didn't need to buy a new one.
     It was a beautiful money saving surprise. I ended up working in my yard for about six hours straight. I  was like a crazy woman pulling weeds, cutting grass, raking, sweeping, you name it. It became a community event. My neighbors were coming out of their houses and when they noticed that I had one recycle bin for the mounds of  yard waste I had piled up, they offered me the use of their yard waste bins. I really enjoyed being outside with my neighbors and their willingness to offer yard waste bins was beautiful to me. I'm sure they were also thankful that I was doing something with my yard too.
    Finding  the perfect and the beautiful isn't always some grand discovery. Sometimes it's just in the small things, that we take for granted like, neighbors and community. Seeing a need and offering a helping hand. The owner of  the hardware store could have let me purchase the $20+ dollar cord, but he didn't, he spoke up, helped out and saved me about $20 dollars.
      For me finding the perfect and the beautiful is going to be about finding a reason to be thankful, rejoicing in the midst of the chaos, pain, and dissappointments of life, and always keeping one eye open to spot that flower among the weeds.

Listen

Listen, no I mean close your ears so you can really hear
shut your eyes so you can really see
listen to the beating of you own heart
listen to the air swish
listen to the spider spin its web
listen, listen
not with your ears, but with your heart
see, but not only with your eyes
if you really listen
if you really see
then you can hear the thump and rhythm
and
you can see- if you really see
the sorrows, joys and issues of the heart
of a stranger
as you pass them by
but if in passing- you see the need
let compassion guide your new sight
and live
be
give what is needed
then you will hear the ant walk
and receive the rain like a refreshing shower
while the sun still shines.

Charissa Carroll
6/1/04