The world is full of an abundance of perfect people. You only need to spend a few minutes on Instagram to have this confirmed. It can often leave you feeling as if you are not enough or don’t measure up.
I think about this a lot when I am out enjoy nature, whether I’m hiking along or snapping a selfie at the top of a summit. I don’t spend hours lining up the perfect shot.
My clothes look like I have climbed over trees, slid down in the mud and spilled food on myself.
And I am probably squinting.
I talk too loud, lose my way, have no makeup and goodness only knows about my hair.
Sure, I know that the perfection on social media is only an illusion. But that illusion is the standard by which we gauge ourselves and you have to have a pretty solid self-esteem to not find yourself doing even the least bit of comparison. And I most definitely do not have a solid self-esteem. As human beings, we can know that we don’t have to live up to perfection but it doesn’t stop us from longing for or idealizing it.
I heard this classic story the other day and it resonated with me. We often berate ourselves for not being perfect or like someone else when exactly who we are is what the world needs.
Maybe you need to hear this today, too.
An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots. Each pot hung on the ends of a pole, which she carried across her shoulders. Every day, she used this device to carry water to her home.
One of the pots was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. The other had a deep crack in it and leaked. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this situation occurred daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.
After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, the cracked pot spoke to the woman one day by the stream, saying, “I am ashamed of myself because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.”
The old woman smiled and replied, “Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walked back home you watered them and made them grow. For two years, I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table and give to my friends and neighbors. Without you being just the way you are, there would not have been this special beauty to grace our homes and lives.”
We often don’t see the special gifts we have when we spend our time comparing ourselves to others. Your gifts are just what you were meant to have and perfect for what they are intended. Be proud of who you are and don’t be afraid to share it with the world!
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