Your Home Can Be Happy

Hi, my name is Lisa . . . . I am a perfectionist. Oh yes, I have been one for as long as I can remember. I confess this to you because I started thinking about a comment a friend of mine made this past weekend. In a conversation about her thirteen year old daughter, she commented that she wouldn’t want to go back to middle school and do it all over again.

I started thinking about that statement and had to disagree silently. I think I would like the opportunity to go back and do it all again. I would cherish the thought of being able to choose friends more wisely, study harder, and be more focused on the things that really matter and less concerned with trying to please people that really don’t matter in the end.

I realize there is no way to go back and do it all again like the movies, Thirteen going on Thirty and Seventeen Again. The problem is that we learn life lessons along the way. We learn by hurt, disappointment, broken dreams, and failures. All of our past experiences enables us to learn who when can trust, who will make a good friend, and how we can minister to others through tough times. Through our trials, we become better equipped to walk beside a friend going through hard times.

As we live every day and experience “life”, we gain wisdom along the way. I guess that is why we should listen to people who have lived longer than we have. I think there is some merit in seeking counsel from our elders. The best advise and spiritual wisdom in my life has come from elderly women whom God has placed in my life. Time spent with them has been so sweet and priceless.

How does the perfectionist statement fit in to all of this reminiscing? I thought you would never ask! I think my perfectionist nature has been a blessing and a curse in my life . . . . you see, I strive so hard to make things perfect in everything that I do, I tend to miss the joy. I live with a lot of disappointment when things go wrong. I also make others close to me miserable by my expectations of perfection.

This past year, through many trials and tears, I have come to the realization that things aren’t always going to be perfect. And most importantly, I cannot change the world and the people in it and make it perfect. I can either live my life disappointed and always striving for perfection, or I can choose to be HAPPY! Happiness for me is more important the older I get . . . it has taken a lifetime to realize that!

As I wind down as my role as owner of First Fruit Collection, I am looking forward to time spent with my husband, mother, children and granddaughter. There are just 4 weeks and counting. . . . . . .

Happy Decorating,

Lisa