Matthew 5:13a

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Five Minute Friday: “Mess”

Looking for a reason to write but not sure where to start? Join me and hundreds of others in Five Minute Fridays started by Lisa Jo-Baker. The key is to write for five minutes based on Lisa-Jo’s prompt “No extreme editing; no worrying about perfect grammar, font, or punctuation. Unscripted. Unedited. Real.”

So here we go: “Mess”

So I had to chuckle to myself when I saw this word. MESS!!! Well, here’s a bit of transparency. I’m intimidated by mess. I don’t function well in mess. I shut down in Mess.

I spend hours on Meticulous and Perfectionism. And funny how even after double checking not once but twice (and sometimes more), I still manage to find something wrong.

Over the years I’ve read and taken on the perspective that mess often signifies chaos or confusion. So I think it’s fair to say that with that perspective, I’ve become a bit too concerned about what others would think if I was no [not] so put together, or on point with certain things.

Well…

 

The After Five: I will be the FIRST and I’m certain not the only one or the last to tell you that BLAH!!!! Meticulous and Perfectionism will literally drive you crazy!!! I’m sure there’s someone out there who will agree. 🙂 This hit me the most when I was an instructor for the first time and felt the need to read and do as much as possible to make sure students were getting what I considered a valued education. So if that meant staying up till 3 or 4 in the morning with 2 hours of sleep before starting the day, then hey, “It’s not about me, it’s all about them.” Um, while that may be true in certain circumstances, any obsession with something often overwhelms the true passion, joy, and purpose of it. And while I tried to “fake it” on the front line, behind closed doors, yes, I was a Mess!!! It was not until I lost my job, with way too much time on my hand, (but GREATLY needed), that I started to accept the fact that I don’t have to be perfect, I don’t have to know everything and I don’t have to be “All that” to people in order to satisfy unrealistic expectations.

To go back a bit, before I lost my job, I was working almost 14 hour days, 4 days a week, on minimal hours of sleep and not to mention the job issues itself, and it became so overwhelming (with noticeable health issues), that I literally said to God I just couldn’t do it anymore. (another topic for another day, I was hoping that that door closing meant another one would readily open, but that was not the case….).

So long story short, it often times takes a messy situation to open our eyes to new revelations that we would not have seen otherwise. Mess happens. It’s not meant to be permanent, but I do believe it often serves as the foundation upon which many of  our blessings are formed. If mess didn’t happen we’d never feel the need to assess situations, consider changes and therefore make room for more growth.  So, slowly but surely, I’m still learning. 🙂 And OAN: That, my friends, was the Mess that led to me starting my own professional services. So mess is not a lost cause (and I’m now reminded of the “Paint” post- it’s all about how we choose to view things).

Have a Good Night Y’all!!! 🙂

 

Five Minute Friday- “Garden”

I’ve been reading WisdomfromaFather’s Friday posts for a while now and thought the idea of Five minute writings was neat. So here I am joining hundreds of others in Five Minute Fridays started by Lisa Jo-Baker.  The key is to write for five minutes based on Lisa-Jo’s prompt “No extreme editing; no worrying about perfect grammar, font, or punctuation. Unscripted. Unedited. Real.”

This weeks word is “Garden” but you will have to visit Lisa-Jo Baker here to get the full story behind her inspiration for this weeks word, a love story like no other.

HK KowloonPark Garden of Life

source

So here we go: “Garden”

Well, you know, I don’t have a garden, so literally speaking I can’t share from that aspect. However, metaphorically speaking (yeah, I think that’s the right word), the word “garden” actually reminds me of our own individual lives. In many ways, we choose what we allow to grow in our life, we can choose what type of flowers we want to plant, what type of vegetables we want, basically the good things, and we can choose which ones are not good for our health, which ones that are not quite ripe or mature, as well as remove the weeds that manage to slither their way through.

**The After Five: So basically speaking, we may not always have a choice as to WHO comes into our life, but we do have a choice as to how long we allow them to stay. Will they prove to be fruitful or will they prove to be useless to our growth. And where you do have a choice, be sure to see the bigger picture and not just the temporary/short-term picture.

You have a voice and you have a right to determine who stays and who goes, but even while tending to your own garden of life, be sure to bless others so that they too may flourish.

“How will the thing you allow in your life today affect your life tomorrow?”