The Crisis of Identity- Man’s Search for Meaning- Some Reflections on Death

This last weekend I had the opportunity to take some time out for a spiritual retreat.  I was able to go with one of my dearest and closest friends to a retreat house in Fremont, Ohio, Our Lady of the Pines, run by the Sisters of Mercy.  It was a fantastic experience- there is nothing like a place that has been prayed in, and that is one of those places.  It reminded me a lot of the place in Morristown New Jersey where I spent thirty days in silence last summer. 

Places that have been “prayed in,” are obvious.  It is sort of like a hotel room that has been smoked in- it is in the walls and in the sheets and the bedding.  It is obvious when you first walk into the room that someone has been there who was smoking- in an analogous manner, the feeling that a place has been prayed in is just as obvious- it is in the walls and in the bedding.  It soaks into the carpet, and is reflected in the people who live and work there- it is obvious when you walk in, as you smell not the acrid smell of cigarette smoke, but the fragrence of holiness.

I spent the weekend in silence- except for the part where I visited my spiritual director in Toledo- the sun was out and bright (a nice change from the cloud belt of Columbus, Ohio), but there was also snow on the ground.  It made things even brighter!  On the last day I decided to go for a walk and to shoot some pictures of the grounds and the surroudning area. (I actually don’t have any pictures uploaded yet, they are still in my camera- and may be for another 3 or 4 years… you know how it goes!)  I walked through the cemetary where the sisters were buried from the decades past, and saw an even bigger cemetary just across the street.  So I mosied over there- I like cemetaries for some reason- I grew up near a giant one in Lima, so I guess I have never felt creepy there or anything like that.  Cemetaries tell a lot about the people who lived near them- whole families buried together- some people lived a long time, while others only a few days.  A gravestone is sort of like the tip of the iceburg- there is so much more about a person underneath that their marker just can’t tell.

One of the striking things about the grave markers though, was the fact that every single last one tells us about a relationship that the person it commemorates had- large or small they all had names on them.  Those names denoted a relationship with people of similar names.  As I mentioned above, there were whole families- sons, daughters, mothers and fathers- all buried together.  Some of the grave stones told of a married couple- the day they were married, the kids they had, when they were born and when they died.  Some were just little kids who only lived for a few days, but were never forgotten- even 50 years after her death at the age of 4 days, one person’s gravestone read beloved daughter.  There were fresh flowers there.

My favorite gravestone didn’t have a picture of a family member, or even a picture of Jesus or Mary (it was a Catholic cemetary), but a tow truck- a tow truck with the name Fischer Towing was carved into the side of a gravestone!  Must have been his truck.

Certainly gets one to think doesn’t it?  I mean, as another friend of mine often says, none of us are getting out of here alive.  Where is the meaning in our lives?  Where do we go when we die?  No matter how strong one’s faith is, that second question is always unknown.  The first though, I think can be answered.

A few months back I read (and wrote a blog on) Viktor Frankle’s book on man’s search for meaning, entitled “Man’s Search for Meaning.”  He talked about how he survived the death camps at Auschwitz because he had a meaning and purpose.  Those who didn’t survive, often died because they lost a reason to live.  We all need that or we die- we die in our daily actions, in our relationships, and in ourselves without meaning.  We are not meant to drift- even the ancient philosophers knew that we had a “final cause,” that is, something we are directed towards.

How do we find meaning then?  I suspect that is something that we all struggle with- it is the issue of trying to figure out our identity in this life- to give our lives meaning.

Frankle’s solution was an interesting one- he said that we have to imagine ourselves on our deathbed, looking back at our lives.  What do we want to see there?  What would we see if that day was tomorrow?  I do not believe that this exercise is intended to be moribund, rather it is a means to focus ourselves and the direction we are supposed to in life, and the meaning we attach to our identity.

I have a sneaking suspicion that those grave stones I saw last week were a key to the answer.  With the exception of the tow truck guy, nobody had their occupation on their gravestone.  But everybody had some reference, even if just a name, to a relationship.  Be it to God, or their spouse, or children or parents invariably what defined people were their relationships.  That is what gives us identity and meaning- or that is what should.

 Even the nuns who were buried there had an R.S.M. after each of their names, denoting a relationship with their order, and the other sisters in it.

My spiritual director told me the story of his uncle who was very rich.  He spent his whole life amassing a great deal of wealth- he never married because he was too busy making money.  He was a very successful man- when he was in his 60′s he had a stroke and was confined to a wheelchair in a (probably very nice) nursing home.  My director told me that until the day he died he only said one phrase over and over- “what a rip-off.”

So I guess I would challenge you with the same exercise as Victor Frankle- if you were on your deathbed looking back on life, what would you see?  What would you want to see? What are the relationships in our lives that give us meaning, and how are they going? The answer to the second question is also the answer to our search for identity, and the search for meaning in our lives.

Only this way will life never become a rip-off.

“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in a love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.”

Pedro Arrupe, S.J.

Curiosity Didn’t Kill the Cat, It Made Him a Better Cat

Recently I joined a networking group named Amspirit, which meets every Tuesday morning at 7:30.  Now you know something must be good if I am willing not only to get up at 7:30, but even earlier to drive 20 minutes to something that STARTS at 7:30.  If that isn’t a resounding endorsment for the Amspirit organization, I don’t know what is.  Learn more about it here:

Click the picture to learn more!

I have met some fantastic folks through AmSpirit already, and one of the neat things that I have been able to partipate in was getting invited to a book club on Monday mornings with some other members of the organization.  So that means that there are TWO mornings a week that I get up to meet folks from this fine organization.  I went to my first meeting of that group last week, and we talked about a book called “How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci,” by Michael Gelb.  A fascinating book, where he outlines the seven steps to thinking like Leonardo Da Vinci- a man who was a scientist, painter, and a physician among other things… truly a renaissance man.

Leonardo- not the Ninja Turtle

From this book we had a truly interesting and invegorating discussion lead by one of the members of the group.  The first of the 7 steps to thinking like Leo was curiosity.  From the summery of the book curiosita’ was defined as:

“An insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous

learning.

 

Talented people go on asking questions throughout their lives. Leonardo’s

childlike sense of wonder and insatiable curiosity, his depth of interest, and his

willingness to question accepted knowledge never ceased. Curiosita is the first

of Leonardo’s characteristics that Gelb attributes to his genius.”

 

   

  I think that this is an important aspect to pursue in everyone’s life- often we get comfortable in simply taking what other people say as the truth- in essense we “borrow” their perception and make it our own.  When that happens we really get comfortable in simply accepting the world as other people see it, and never challenge the accepted norms of culture or thought.  If we have a sense of curiosity instilled in us, we can take a critical look at things, understanding the reality and culture that we live in, and making ourselves much more rounded individuals who do not simply live in the darkness, but understand in depth themselves and the reality that they live in.  That means we constantly have to challenge what we think we know is true- sometimes I suspect if we challenge things we can see just how close we really were- that things were true.  Other times, we might find that what we believed to be true was off the mark the whole time.

Truth is a universal thing- what is true today will always be true- truth- real truth is unchanging.  But only the one’s with a real sense of curiosita’ delve deeply into its profound depths and discover so much more than was first perceived.

 
He is challenging the norms….  what a weird guy!!

The Best Way to Re-Commit: Don’t

A couple of years ago, I began a journey- a journey to make myself look, feel, and act, like Arnold Schwarzenegger.  I have thus far failed.  It turns out I can’t even do an Austrian accent, although I have known several Austrians, and have even worked out once in Vienna, I have failed to reach the epic 1970′s proportions of everyone’s favorite body builder.

He is going to pump you up!

When I embarked on that journey, I embarked with a bunch of zeal, and for three straight months, I lifted three times a week, built up my strength and my muscles, and watched the numbers on the sheet I was writing my stats on rise with every week that I lifted.  Certainly, I did not turn out like Arnold, but the lifting and the physical exercise made me feel incredible.  It is something I try to maintain in one way or another all the time in my life.

I wish I had a program that I could click and be more buff!

It is funny though, after about three months I hit a plateau.  The numbers stopped going up as fast, if at all, and I was starting to lose hope that I someday would be Mr. Universe… or Conan the Barbarian.  So I re-committed myself to working out harder, pushing myself more, and re-dedicating myself to the workout routine with the same zeal I had started with three months prior.

That lasted all of a week.  I found myself dragging myself into the gym that I had previously loved, and that my workouts were not all that effective in getting the numbers to go higher.  I knew they could go higher but all the re-commitment in the world wasn’t working.  I couldn’t figure out what was wrong- I was doing all the same stuff I had done for the previous three months- things that had gotten me fired up and gotten me results, but to no avail.

Then I realized, that was the problem.  I began reading up on what the problem was, and I realized that my muscles had gotten used to the same old routine that I had been doing for the last three months, which limited their ability to grow.  Not only that, but mentally, I had gotten bored with the routine- so as much as I wanted to re-commit myself, it was growing more difficult, both physically and mentally.  I was no longer challenging myself in either aspect, so my workouts became boring and ineffective, no matter how much I wanted to re-commit.  There was no way that I was going to do an encore to that previous three months’ of workouts.

So I changed it up.  I got some more books and changed up my routine- I picked a different set of exercises, a different order to my workout, and even different music than I was listening to before.  (I had been listening to the same cd for three months too!)  I changed everything.  In a sense, I re-committed to my physical well being by not re-committing at all.  In fact it was difficult to re-commit to the same old routine, nearly impossible.

I think that this sort of thinking needs to apply to everything.  It is very easy to get comfortable in our relationships, our jobs, our spiritual life, or even our intellectual life.  When we get comfortable, even with good habits, we can stagnate the growth that we might be capable of doing, simply because it is easier to do.  That can make us lazy, and even prone to losing the good habits we might have formed.

The way to re-commit to anything is to totally re-think how you are doing it.  There is nothing more fun than starting a new project, to find a new way to look at and examine anything that is out there- new ways to experience a relationship that refreshes and renews it.  Even news ways of working out that trick the muscles into growing even faster than they could in the old system.

As I have mentioned in other posts, if we are not growing we are dead.  Certainly the new workout that I established after the first three months was a hard routine to get into- my muscles weren’t use to it, it required more concentration, and it forced me to learn how to do the same old thing in a brand new and exciting way.  The result- my numbers started to go up on my stat sheet again.

How does this apply to a job?  Maybe you can’t seem to find fulfillment in a job because you have gotten into a rut and can’t get out.  The same routine is no longer a mental challenge, and you need to look for a new department and new challenges to make you grow.

How about relationships?  Maybe you have been married for awhile, and things have gotten stale.  Look at your routines- maybe you have been doing the same things together that worked twenty years ago.  You are different people than you were twenty years ago!  Things may have changed, and so should the dynamic of your relationships.  Maybe it is as simple as trying a new restaurant!

In your spiritual life, perhaps you have prayed and meditated the same way for years, and it once brought a great amount of fruit to your spiritual well being, but these days your prayer has been stale- try a new tact- there are plenty of spiritual devotions and practices that can refresh your relationship with God.

This existence is constantly one of the tension between trying to stay the same- what is comfortable for us, and what worked for us in the past, verses dealing with the changing nature of the world we live in, and people we are.  Somehow we have to balance consistency with challenging ourselves with new ways of thinking and acting so that we can continue to grow and fulfill our potential at this moment of our lives.

As a friend once told me, she likes to do things every so often that gets her out of her comfort zone- she even tried dancing in an advanced jazz class without ever having one jazz dance lesson ever in her life!  Getting out of our comfort zones is the first step in establishing a new comfort zone to grow into- certainly that means leaving the past behind, but taking with us that which will make us grow.

I will leave you with this analogy- a plant needs a new flower pot every-so-often in order to continue to grow, or else it will be smothered and die.  That doesn’t mean that the flower pot didn’t serve its purpose, just that it outgrew the one it was in.  To move a plant from one pot to another, or a pot to the ground is tremendously hard and risky on the plant, but the potential for growth is unimaginable!

So how do you re-commit to anything?  Throw out the old play book, and write a new one!  Commit, by not re-committing to whatever makes us too comfortable.

A Little Deviation at the Beginning Can Mean Big Trouble at the End: Life Requires Maintenance.

A few years ago, my Boy Scout Troop went on one of our patented camp outs.  I used to love campouts, simply because it always gave us the excuse and the opportunity to eat chili.  Chili was a staple of our Boy Scout Troop.  It was tasty, it was easy to make, and it was always entertaining to feed a bunch of teenage boys Chili.  The Chili we made was like Chili salad- we would all bring a can of our favorite Chili, and mix the different cans into one big pot, and create the world’s greatest chili.  Add some cheese and frito’s and you had yourself a fine meal my friends. 

 Oddly, this post is not about Chili.  I just wanted to share my love of Chili with all of my readers.  At the partiular campout, we were going to study orienteering.  Orienteering is the navagation of terrain using a compass and a map.  I am particularly notorious for my bad sense of direction, so giving me a map and compass could only lead to disaster.

The way that the campout worked was that we were supposed to navigate a series of waypoints using the map and the compass.  We broke into groups, each having its own set of waypoints and goals- the first to arrive at the final waypoint, which was the same for all the groups, won the competition.  I will just say, as a matter of foreshadowing, that we did not win the competition.

So we started out navigating the course- I was the compass guy in our group, and we were supposed to find a direction and go so many feet or miles or whatever we were supposed to do.  From that point, we would find the next set of coordinates and so on.  Let’s say that the direction was 252 degrees, or West(ish).  Being the type of guy that I am, I found 250, told the guys which direction to go and we were off.

Boy were we off.

We were way off.

Actual Photo of Me, Lost in the Woods (I Got Better)

We never found the first waypoint in fact.  We spent the next couple of hours trying to figure out where we were and where we were supposed to be.  Finally, we realized that we had started off on the wrong foot- the fact that I found 250 and not 252 made all the difference.  At first, we were pretty much on course, but as we went further on, that little 2 degree difference made all the difference.  After a couple of miles we were almost a mile off course.

We finally had our leader help us out, and we found the final waypoint, simply because he knew where it was.  There was still chili to be eaten there, don’t worry!

Boy how we can be like that sometimes.  We think we are generally going in the right direction, but a couple of degrees off at the beginning, and we could end up way off course.  I had a boss once tell me that God is in the details.  Or was it the Devil?  Either way… it may seem that we have gone in the right direction at first, but it is horrible to find that we are way off route at the end.

Isn’t this a great picture? 

Our problem with the orienteering was that we just set off in a direction and assumed that we were on the right track the whole time.  We went in a straight line and assumed that everything would turn out right.  Life is never about a straight route though, as often we must zig and zag, and constantly correct the course we are on to make sure that we arrive at our final destination.

A great analogy I once heard is an airplane.  Most of us, when we fly, assume that the airplane is traveling in a straight line, from point A to point B.  It turns out that an airplane is rarely on course, though.  In fact, an airplane is on course less than 10% of the time.  A plane’s route is more like a zig zag or a wavey type pattern.  If the plane didn’t constantly make course corrections, the from from LA to Chicago would end up in Tuscon!

Our lives have to operate in a similar manner.  We simply can’t point ourselves in a particular direction and expect that we are going to arrive at our destination.  Even a little deviation at the beginning can mean that we will almost always miss the mark at the end.

Our lives require a daily course correction- we have to see where we are coming from, where we are, and if we are still heading in the right direction- in other words our lives are in constant need of course correction, much like the route of an airplane.  The quickest way to get between two points is a straight line, but rarely do straight lines exist in real life.  It is so much better to make those course corrections early rather than find out just how far off the mark you are at the end!

Much like the pilots of an airplane, or Boy Scouts on the trail, we need to constantly monitor ourselves to make sure we get to whatever destination we desire to arrive at.  Certainly it takes a lot of work and focus, but the results are always worth it.

The final piece of the puzzle is that we have to trust the instruments provided to us to navigate our way through life.  Just like the pilot has to trust his control panel, and the Boy Scout his compass, so we have to trust the instruments in our lives- people, places, and structures that are external to ourselves to help us make sure that we are on route.  Our relationship with God, counselors, pastors, life coaches, mentors, support groups, friend and family members are all good resources for us to trust in our journey of life to help us be accountable to them and ourselves to maximize the possibilility for success. 

 That means we have to find and establish relationships with people that we trust to point us in the right direction, and to put us back on course, and arrive safely at our destination, whatever that might be.

Instant Gratification Doesn’t Always Mean Instant Success

When I was a kid I rarely got mail. I am not sure that there are many kids that get a lot of mail, although I am sure that since even 3 year old have email now, they at least get the same spam from the widows of African Generals who just need to borrow my bank account for a little while, so that she can get her money out of Zimbabwe. (By the way, I am still waiting on my 10% cut of that 28 million dollars.) (I am sure it won’t be long before it comes. In the meantime, I guess they needed to max out my checking account to help with the transfer.)

When I was a kid, I received one of the greatest letters in the mail that I possibly could: It was from my good friend, Ed. McMahon. That’s right, even though I had only vaguely heard of him and never met him, he sent me… ME… a letter with the greatest message a kid could read: I had won a million dollars.

Lucky: Not ’cause she won $5m, but ’cause she got to meet Ed

I was already driving a monster truck in my mind’s eye. It had flames on the side.

All I had to do was to submit the entry form to claim my prize of one million dollars (as I type this, I am putting my pinky up to my mouth, a-la Dr. Evil). I knew that all my problems were over… no more need for an allowance, and I could probably buy off my parents and brothers… probably.

I sent in the envelope and waited for Ed to show up with my check. I waited a long time. Almost as long as I ma waiting for that General’s widow to deposit that money into my account… where the heck is she??!

Finally, the day came… again I got something in the mail. I figured that Ed was busy and couldn’t personally deliver my check- probably he was busy delivering other people’s checks I was sure… Did he even live in Ohio? What I got in the mail wasn’t a check though- it was a subscription to a golfing magazine.

I have never golfed.

I will never golf.

All of my dreams of monster trucks and gold plated toilets slipped through my fingers. Maybe I could golf my way to millions. I was just a regular kid again… I would have to earn it if I wanted a million dollars.

You know, I would love to find some way to get rich quick… who the heck wouldn’t? While I am at it, I would love to find some way to lose weight quickly without any personal risk. Oh yea, I would love to be world famous too… by tomorrow.

I have a sneaking suspicion that I am not alone in these and similar sentiments. I love instant gratification- I love getting somethign for nothing- no work, no investment, no pain or commitment.

Why do you think guys keep selling schemes to make money (why would they be selling it if it worked so well? Seems you would want to keep it a secret.) How about all the fad diets and pills and procedures that help us to lose weight quickly? Not that I am against them, or think they are bad or immoral, but I doubt that it gets to the root of why most people eat.

If we want something worthwhile- a true balance in our lives, it is not something that happens in an instant, but something we grow into. It requires work to do- sometimes it is easy and other times it isn’t. I wish I could find that equilibrium instantly, but I doubt it would be equilibrium at all. Usually instant gratification comes with consequences- I know that all the fad diets I have ever tried, I end up gaining more weight than I ever lost. I am sure that most of those people that take part in investment schemes end up losing their money simply because for those schemes to work requires a full time job, and that is contrary to the message that sold them the product in the first place.

I guess there are two ways to look at this analogously. It is sort of like robbing a bank- yea you get money instantly, but the consequences are dire- jail, death, or the endagering of other people. No bank robber robs banks just because it is evil by the way, but there is something good they get out of it instantly- the thrill, quick money etc. In the same way, no one who takes drugs takes them because it will destroy their bodies, but for the instant feeling it gets them.

The better way to do it is to get a job and work for it- to struggle and to save little by little. Certainly the money won’t come as quickly, but neither will the consequences. I have a feeling that a person who understands this appreciates ever hard earned paycheck that they make.

When it comes to anything else, the same thing works- if you lose weight one pound a week, you have a tendency to keep it off, because you give yourself time to change your habits. Money, or houses, or whatever rightly earned is always more fulfilling than getting it quickly through schemes or robbery. Dealing with how we feel is much better than supressing it with drugs or alcohol or shopping or whatever addiction makes us feel temporarily better. You still need to deal with the consequences of those feelings, as well as others associated with the addicition, once the drug wears off.

I still fight this need for instant gratification- it is part of our culture- instant cameras, cell phone that contact other people instantly- airplanes that can fly around the world in a matter of hours. I can tell you from my own experience, that when we do the work and take the time, the outcome is always more fulfilling.

The Myth of Perfection: If You Want to Live, You Have to Grow: Podcast

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The Myth of Perfection: If You Want to Live, You Have to Grow

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Before last January, I haven’t run more than about 12 feet since I was about 12 years old.  Running is a hard thing to do for me- you have to sweat for one.  Of course, I don’t sweat, rather I glow.  My glowing is really wet and stinky though. 

An artist’s rendition of me sweating…

I have always been a big fan of walking though, and one day after Thanksgiving I ended up walking about 12 miles, for no other reason than I had enough time off to walk 12 miles.  Having done that, a friend of mine told me that I should learn how to run, and train for the Columbus half marathon in April of last year.

PREPOSTEROUS I thought.  Me?  A Runner?  I have a hard enough time walking without falling off of the sidewalk, let alone trying to do that quickly, in a city, surrounded by 10,000 strangers.  I scoffed at the idea, but eventually acquiessed, and began to train for the marathon.

Falling off of the sidewalk

I started by walking fast, then faster, and even ran about 13 feet, a personal record set for me in Mrs. Thomas’ 5th grade gym class, not to be broken until I was nearly 30 years old.  Eventually, that 13 feet turned into a mile, which turned into 2,3,4, and toward the end of my training 12 miles!  I couldn’t believe it!  Every week I would just add a mile to what I had done the week before, so it wasn’t so tedious and mentally challenging which is really what turned me off of running in the first place.

The day of the big race came, and I was psyched!  It was cold and rainy that day, but I was determined to combat the elements and run a good race.  As we began, I ran at an even pace, because I knew that the race was long.  One foot in front of the other.  Sure there was a little tightness in my hamstrings, but I was able to persevere!

I ran the 10k portion of the 13.2 mile race, which works out to roughly half of a half marathon, in about an hour and six minutes- not too shabby for a guy running his first marathon.  Then it happened.

My hamstrings locked up in the 7th mile… and I had to walk.  I was so disappointed in myself!  I had done all this training for months and months, and I had to walk!!!!  So I walked the 7th mile, waiting for my hamstrings to loosen up.

After a little while, I began to jog again, and even pick up a little speed, so that I finished in just under 2 and a half hours.  I was so upset at myself.  I was so upset that I didn’t run the perfect race.  I couldn’t see the fact that I had just traveled, by foot, 13 miles.  I don’t even like to drive 13 miles!  I couldn’t see that I had gone from walking to running in a matter of months.  I couldn’t see the other 12 miles that I had run- just that one stinkin’ mile that I had to walk.  3 months of training destroyed by one mile.

Anyone else hear the Superman Theme when they look at this?

We can all be like that I think.  A lot of us anyway.  American culture both chases and loathes perfection.  For some reason the culture has come to expect perfection in its people- if you aren’t perfect, then you aren’t wanted.  So we are told that we need to be perfect.  On the other hand, we love it when so- called celebrities, or polititians fall flat on their face and fail- maybe because it makes us feel a little better about our own imperfections.  I dunno, maybe it is just me who is a perfectionist.

Perfection in this life is simply impossibile!  At least with a definition of perfection that is common and popular- that is a person with no physical or emotional flaws- a person without any character defects.  No one like that exists- not even Oprah or Dr. Phil!

But “perfection” in another sense is possible.  Trees are perfect in a sense- trees are perfect insofar as they are constantly growing.  If a tree stops growing, it is one step away from dying, or it is already dead.  Trees are perfect as long as they are doing what they are supposed to do, and that is to grow.  It they aren’t growing they are dying.

Trees go through a lot of changes while they grow.  They have to endure the wind and the rain, they need sunlight, they have to lose their leaves, and put down their roots despite the hardness of the soil.  They have to lose bark, and grow new layers.  Growth for a tree can be serious work!

We aren’t really any different.  We have been designed to grow in whatever environment we have been placed in.  If we stop growing, and learning, that means that we are one step away from dying, perhaps spiritually and emotionally, if not physically.  Growing is what we have been made to do. 

Growth for us human beings can be tough though, just like it is for the tree.  It requires us to leave behind places, habits, and even people who may have been important to us at one time.  It means that sometimes there will be growing pains.  It means not being so hard on ourselves for our perceived ”imperfections,” and seeing them as opportunities for growth.

 Sometimes when you look at the rings on the tree you can see that some years had better and faster growth than others- we aren’t different.  There are times in which we will grow quickly, and other times when it doesn’t seem like we are growing at all.

 

It can hurt to grow, but if a tree doesn’t grow it can’t produce fruit because it is dead.  So our growth lets us be something greater than we are now potentially.  I know that I can look back on life and see events that weren’t pleasant, but helped to make me grow into the person I currently am.

So I guess that the word perfection is something of a misunderstood term- it is misunderstood what it means.  The word that we really should be talking about is progress.

In this life, I like to say, perfection equals progress.

Like the tree that is perfect when it does what it is supposed to, namely grow, so we are perfect only when we are growing.

When I think of that marathon last year, and the accomplishments I made in going from not running to running most of a half marathon I am astounded.  If all I focus on is that 7th mile that I had to walk, I am depressed.  Rather, I should look at that 7th mile as an opportunity to grow and become even better and faster- as something to reach for, just like a tree reaches for the sun!