The Voice of Melody has been released to the great, wide world. Yippee!
My heart was skipping for joy…until it tripped when it saw outstanding typos in this first printing. Ugh. I tried so hard to catch them all. But there they were, large as life. A commonly confused word, a misspelling, a date slightly off. It wounds the writer’s soul in me, like a knife to the gut.
One reader joked that this is how early buyers will know they have a true first edition of the book when I am famous one day. 🙂 And my dad assuaged my frustration with a simple text reply: “Perfection, where art thou?”
Where indeed?
It is the elusive dream I’ve been chasing all my life. The one where I’ll have even a single day without mistakes and I’ll not hurt another soul with my words or actions. And the one where I can say, without a single shred of doubt in my heart or second guessing in my mind, “Yes, this or that is truly very good.” The dream is elusive because it can never be achieved this side of heaven. And my human self must come to terms with that on a daily basis.
One of my colleagues, Irene Harper, listened to me share similar thoughts while we were chatting yesterday. And she told me about a piece of Native American bead-work she’d bought upon which the artist intentionally left one bead of a completely wrong color in an obvious place. This was done so that we would be reminded of the artist’s humanity…and that in it, we would see our own.
A beautiful thought.
Though I can correct them in the next round of printing, those typos still make me cringe a little. But they are also a reminding gift. We are each being refined and restored day by day, and there is mercy to meet us when we need it while we walk an imperfect path through life in a broken world.
(Photo credit: dreamstime.com)
This reading reminded me, my first job interview as a nurse, where I had to answer a questionnaire to a psychiatrist. Although, from a time here, I have changed a lot, some things I have improved, others not so much, and other aspects I have to improve ….. remember the question of that doctor: “What is your worst defect?” to which I replied, “I’m a perfectionist.” From then on, a long and extensive conversation was developed, to which I summarize: The perfection does not exist, and it is that the doctor told me “you must stop being a perfectionist, because you are going to suffer a lot”, he gave me examples like lack tolerance to my work colleagues, overload of work for me, when perhaps another person but not better or equal to me, I can do it, releasing workload and even, leaving me a free time or minutes that would be, just for me . From that day, I began to allow myself to be more Human, and to be happy with my own shortcomings, and I understood that, I respected others, and that was the language of love that I so prophesied. Only God is perfect!
Claudia, thank you for sharing your story and personal thoughts. It sounds like that doctor gave you some good things to think about. I am also a perfectionist, and I think that each of us must learn how to listen to the helpful side of this personality (doing things well and being responsible) and ignore the harmful side (doing too much or not being able to let go of things when it is time to do so) while we more forward in life. If we are very blessed, as you were, I think we will have caring people in our lives to give us good advice – and we will be humble enough to accept and apply that advice when we need to!