Dear Reader:

Aren’t there some lines we read that make us pause and excitedly realize that someone else thinks along the same line as us in a particular outlook?

This happened to me yesterday while reading daily meditations by Richard Rhor. The topic dealt with perfection versus goodness and the statement went like this: ” We grow spiritually much more by doing it wrong than by doing it right.”

I immediately felt lighter… like all the air had gone out of a balloon and the pressure and stress of demanding perfection in our lives was actually a dead-end to our individual pursuits of happiness.

Rohr adds this strong addendum ( to the opening line) … ” That might just be the central message of how spiritual growth happens, yet nothing in us wants to believe it.”

Rohr explains that if there is such a thing as human perfection, it seems to emerge precisely from how we handle the imperfections we meet… ( that is everywhere) especially our own.

If we were playing hide and seek with God… we would have to look at all the imperfections to find holiness hidden there – because our clever God knows only the ” humble and earnest” will find it.

A so- called perfect person is one who can consciously forgive and include imperfection rather than the one who thinks he or she is totally above and beyond imperfections… the arrogant, haughty individual who never admits mistakes but instead blames everyone else for his or her failures.

Perfection is a divine concept: goodness is a beautiful human concept that includes us all! People whom we call ” good” are always people who have learned how to admit mistakes and then clarify the lesson learned for their own and others betterment… even at the risk of their own proper self-image or their social standing.

So until tomorrow…

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh