Perfect all the time?

Aidan 4, Liam 10 mos
Liam 10 mos
Britton 7
me & Brit 7
my hubs..yep, ladies he's taken & Liam 10 mos

Sometimes I believe it is the times when things aren't "perfect" that I learn the most. If someone has hurt me, I seem to be more open to God's guidance....if my boys are fighting, I am more willing to whisper a prayer of patience....if the finances are tight, I look up and ask God for a spiritual (and yeah, even some financial) manna....I am always a little amazed when people are afraid to tell others they are hurting. Do we REALLY think they will believe that things are PERFECT all the time? Do we want them to? I read a book, by Susan Pohlman entitled Halfway to Each Other: How a year in Italy brought our family home. If you haven't read it, DO SO! It is a memoir about a woman's journey to bring her family back together. Life had simply gotten in the way and they had all grown apart. If you know me, you're probably thinking, Oh Lord, Misty's talking about that book again...but you see, that book taught me so much...God used that book to open my eyes about many many things. While I could probably write a dozen blog posts about the lessons learned, there is one particular lesson that sticks out in my mind right now. Susan felt God's call and guidance in moving her family to Italy for a year. Now, keep in mind they did NOT speak Italian, except maybe what they learned while at the Olive Garden (my interpretation) and they had teenagers whom were NOT excited about leaving their friends/social life/schools to go to a foreign country. But, she and her husband listened to God's call...(if you're going to read the book, what I'm about to say may seem like a spoiler, but there is so much to glean from it...READ IT ANYWAY!!!) Susan (the author) was out walking one day..and keep in mind things had not necessarily been smooth sailing. They had hit MANY fairly major bumps in the road during their beginning time in Italy....and she said, God you TOLD us to MOVE HERE!!! She said that at that point, she felt God's voice say, Yes, but I did not say it was going to be PERFECT....
So many times in my own life, I think we need to look a certain way at certain events, we need to participate in certain activities, our kids need to be in certain sports...but what am I doing exactly? Trying to make everyone believe that we are the status quo? That we are perfect? My sons are 7, 4 and 10 mos...I have one who is more often than not going to be wearing his shoes on the wrong feet and have his shirt on backwards..when you mention that perhaps he might fix it, his reply, "Well, that's how Jesus made it." I have one son, who is a constant thinker and loves to discuss great philosophical things with you...and sometimes he can be downright offensive..ie when he tells us we drive our car too much because of the gasses it emits and blah blah blah (I tuned him out here b/c he was talking WAY over my head)...and I have one son who no matter how hard I try ALWAYS has messy hair. (a friend of mine says it's RockStar hair, that DOES sound better than messy hair) We are not perfect..my sons are not into the "traditional" regional sports that are so popular where we live, and that is OK. We are who we are...We are a family that is a lil messy sometimes. We are a family who is a little loud sometimes (though we really DO try to be respectful). We are a family who will get into the occasional disagreement & we are a family where occasionally there is outside drama that affects us.
BUT....
We are ALSO a family that LOVES to giggle. We are a family that will occasionally hollar out I love you to each other. We are a family that loves to learn about new things. We are a family that loves to help others & we are a family that loves Jesus and wants Him to guide our lives...
Nope..we are not perfect...We may have perfect moments...but we are most definitely not perfect all the time and I wouldn't trade one ounce of perceived "perfection" for what I have...

Well, then again, maybe we ARE perfect...perfectly imperfect!