I’ve been rather adrift this winter. The past six months have been challenging, to say the least.
I’ve suffered losses and disappointments aplenty.
Little things, nothing huge. But they kept piling up. Day after day, week after week, until I could no longer dig my way out of the pile.
And, on top of all of that, it rained a lot.
I felt adrift, off course. I had lost my fix – my point of reference. In navigation, a pilot uses dead reckoning to plot a course, using a single, stationary point. A fix.
I had gotten so buried under the daily mundane, I had forgotten what my fix was.
During that time, I wrote a lot about living in the now, and how I was going to stop feeling sorry for myself, and about being thankful.
Unfortunately, it was all just words…I meant what I wrote, but I wasn’t living what I wrote. I was writing the story I wanted to be living. I wrote what I wanted to feel, not what I was feeling.
I had lost my fix.
A wise friend once said that your disappointment is defined by the delta between your expectations and reality.
I have come to realize that I have Very. High. Expectations.
Of myself. Of my kids. Of my house. Of my work.
Perfection is an exhausting task master.
After not speaking to God for a while, (of course, that was terribly un-helpful to my situation) I opened up my Bible the other day and read this, hand-written in the margins.
If our goal is to be like Jesus…
Jesus = servant
Perfection = Jesus
Servant = Perfection
So, it seems to me that rather than striving (and failing) for perfection, maybe I just ought to be striving to be like Jesus.
A man.
Who made Himself nothing.
A servant.
I think I just found my fix.
By Adelle Gabrielson, ready…GO!…get set…
ABOUT ADELLE GABRIELSON
Boy mom of two and married to her first love, Adelle writes about living life with a little peace, a little humor, and great shoes....
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Yes, Jesus!
Awesome words. How easily we go adrift if we take our eyes off Him! Glad you found your fix!
Bernice
Being productive in stressful times
Yes Yes Yes!!! We must fix our eyes on Jesus daily and prayer at all times to keep our fix!
Great post!
Lovely. You are loved, so please don’t feel like you’re the only one, our like you’re alone.
Thanks for this post. I have been feeling exactly what you are describing. Writing down the gifts and trying to live in the present but NOT REALLY living it…just words. Thanks for the encouragement.
Pilots of smaller planes also have to “swing the compass” to reset it on north. Even if the pilot follows the compass; if it is not set properly when flying eventually the plane will be totally off course and lost. Sometimes, I “swing my compass” jsut to check I am still on the right course going in the right direction.
Loved how you expressed this situation many if not all of us find ourselves in from time to time.
Love this: ‘If our goal is to be like Jesus…
Jesus = servant
Perfection = Jesus
Servant = Perfection’
Ginger
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