Don’t forget about the contest I am running right now!  Click here to guess how much I spend to keep our Christmas lights lit and you could win a $25 Olive Garden gift card.

Last night I was struck again by a lesson I seem to always be learning.  My wife works two days a week and Thursday nights are typically the afternoon/evening when I am running the house.  One of the things the girls enjoy doing on those nights is cooking dinner with Dad.  If you’ve never cooked with a 6 year-old and a 2 year-old you will quickly learn that it doesn’t have to be perfect!

We were making a chicken and Stove Top casserole which is a favorite around here.  During our evening of cooking a bag of Stove Top exploded while it was being opened by little hands, a toddler (who will remain unnamed) started licking the sour cream lid, sour cream somehow wound up on the floor, and there was a near melt down over who would get the most chicken to put in their pan.  But we had fun, did something good together, and no one got hurt…which is always something to guard against with a 2 year-old in the kitchen.

The end result was dinner for the night, leftovers for work, and a second pan of casserole that would go into the freezer.  It wasn’t perfect.  The chicken got shredded up a bit too fine by the mixer while I was attending to the 2 year-old.  I’m also pretty sure that same child licked a few things while I wasn’t looking, but that’s OK because it will all cook out.  The girls got a chance to help and learn while we spent some time doing something good and productive.

As life has gotten busier I’ve learned to stop striving for perfect.  Sure, there are some instances where perfect is necessary, but most of the time the pursuit of perfect will either drive you or your family crazy.  Every day things get left undone, people have to wait for a return phone call, and chores are left undone at our house.  I’m OK with that as long as the things that are most important to our family are attended to.

I’m also reminded of a quote I love, “Comparison is the thief of joy.”  (I liked it so much that I wrote a post and preached a sermon about it.)  I follow UberFacts on Twitter and it seems each week they recycle the tweet that says, “Heavy Facebook use has been known to cause anxiety, depression, narcissism, sleeping problems and even stomach aches.”  We determine what is the ideal for our family, not something you read on a blog or see on Facebook.

Life is messy.  Life is fun.  Life is sad.  Life is joy filled.  Life is disappointing.  Life is amazing.  Life is meant to be lived by you.