In A Crooked Kind of Perfect , Zoe, the protagonist, has a dream … to play the piano in Carnegie Hall.  There is a significant difference between her dream and her reality.  School Library Journal says, “In the end, resilient and resourceful Zoe finds perfection in the most imperfect and unique situations, and she shines.”

This week my dream and my reality just don’t match.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m blessed beyond measure.  Yet I’m striving for a place … a state of being … that I can’t quite reach. 

Thomas Moore writes … “we may have to give up our innocent thoughts of perfection to find the entry into life … we all have to find a world in which we can really live.”

Perfection ever is the price of toil.
Of marchings long, and hardships by the way,
Of burdens borne, oft in the heat of day,
‘Tis then as right the victor claims the spoil.

The world admires the wreath upon his brow,
But he alone can tell how much it cost,
And how to gain it he had all things lost.
Results men see, but not the when, or how.
…
And he who would true eminence attain
Must heed the word of Him who came to serve,
Nor from this path a single moment swerve,
If he the great reward would surely gain.

This is the royal way–to serve in love–
Servant to servants ever aim to be
Like Him who gave His life to ransom thee;
Then shalt thou sit with Him on throne above.
~ J. H. Chant

Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

Abundance is mine … perfection … well, not yet!