“Being happy doesn’t mean everything is perfect. It means you’ve decided to 
look past the imperfections.” – Anonymous
Last weekend my siblings came in town with their kids. Our Mom and Dad wanted to capture the gathering with a quick picture with their grandchildren.
My siblings and I corralled the nineteen grandchildren (ages 14, 13, 11, 11, 11, 10, 9, 9, 8, 7, 7, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 15 months, 9 months and 4 months). We shepherded my father from the house to a little couch in the side yard. Mom followed and sat next to him. One by one the kids filed around them.
As we worked to get a formation where 21 faces could be seen, chaos erupted.
A little girl became upset (her brother was teasing her); a little boy started crying (convinced he’d contracted Lyme disease, unlikely as he’d been bitten by a mosquito not a tic); a two-year-old wanted nothing to do with the picture (a promise of limitless ice cream could not change her mind).
And yet, through teasing and tears, bug bites and chaos, we got a picture to commemorate the gathering. More than that, from the experience, these three life lessons came into focus:
1.“Love is a Verb.” As one parent ran to get a favorite toy for an upset child, another helped with a crying baby. As one cleaned up spit up, another brushed the hair of a child whose roughhousing disheveled it.
In love, there is no passivity, no sitting back, no waiting for others to jump in. Real love demands action. Love is the great motivator and compels continual forgiveness, persistent compassion and striving toward something even bigger than itself.
(“Love is a verb” is one of my favorite quotes from my recent Live Inspired podcast interview with Edie Varley. Edie shares her beautiful story of growing up one of 14 children – “life was a celebration!” She’s my personal coach, dear friend and you won’t want to miss her wisdom and energy. Listen here.)
2. Life requires adaptability. As more little ones came around their grandparents, everyone had to shuffle to make room and make sure everyone could be seen.
Most of us are creatures of habit and like things as they were. “The good ole days” isn’t just the beginning of a story our grandparents shared, but one now repeated by most of us! It’s critical to remember and celebrate that life is constantly in flux, otherwise we’re at risk to be driven toward protectionism and longing for a past that will never exist again.
3. Perfection is unattainable. The majority of Facebook posts and holiday cards are Photo-shopped or at least only THE BEST photo of hundreds taken before it. It also turns out when someone responds that everything is ‘just perfect’ in their work, finances, family and life: They likely aren’t telling the entire story.
Life isn’t perfect. It can be messy, sad, unfair and undignified. And yet, seasons of adversity are often followed by joy, with overlap between the two. Instead of pretending all is perfect, be okay with the mess life can occasionally be; instead of being disappointed at what you did not perfectly capture, be grateful for all that you did.
For you see, in looking back, the best pictures, experiences and memories often aren’t the ones we envisioned, but the unexpected ones we were lucky enough to experience. [Tweet this] | [Share on Facebook]
Our final picture includes a 2-year-old with tears streaming down her face fleeing, a girl in the back moving away from her brother’s teasing, a young boy despondent by self-diagnosed Lyme disease, grandparents trying to hold onto their 19 grandchildren and a bunch of unseen parents behind the lens encouraging (and threatening!) their children to look at the camera and smile.
This picture captured two grandparents, with a combined 14 decades of ups and downs during life, surrounded by 19 grandchildren in various stages of growth, distress, joy, tears, smiles, fears, hopes and dreams. In others words, the final picture captured one moment, in one family’s life, perfectly.
My friends, being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. It simply means that you’ve decided to look past the imperfections.
Today is your day. Live Inspired.
This article was originally published on #1 National Bestselling Author of ON FIRE and Inspirational Speaker John O’Leary’s Monday Motivation blog. John inspires the R.L. Thomas Service, Inc. and we’re honored to share his inspiration with you! Get his Monday Motivation in your inbox here and enjoy his daily inspiration on Facebook, Twitter & YouTube.
You can see all of John’s Monday Motivation posts here: http://johnolearyinspires.com/tag/blog/