This past week had been a hard one. Playing catch up from being out of town, dealing with a head cold, and feeling like I was not accomplishing anything, I wondered if I would ever really pull it together.
Then I went to church yesterday. My daughter, Cali, was asked to sing in church. She had practiced during the week and was prepared. She sang a beautiful version of the hymn, "I Know that My Redeemer Lives."
About halfway through the song Cali lost her place. She isn't sure what happened, but she couldn't figure out where she was. She had to stop and ask her accompanist where they were, all in front of our large church congregation. As you can imagine, she was embarrassed and frustrated.
Cali is an experienced performer - she has performed dozens of times in school musicals, concerts and competitions as part of a group, and as a soloist.
Yet, something amazing happened when Cali lost her place - the spirit touched her and it touched the congregation. You could hear the emotion in her voice and feel it in the congregation.
As she returned to her seat after finishing the song she, of course, shed a few tears and was disappointed with her performance.
After church, she had so many people come up to her, thanking her for sharing her talent and for bringing the spirit into the meeting. One sweet man told her that the spirit that was felt through her music and her performance was so much greater than the discomfort she had felt.
Another dear older lady told Cali that her performance had touched her more than any other song she had ever heard.
As Cali and I talked after church I shared with her that one of the main purposes of music, especially in a church setting, is to help us feel the spirit. Even though her performance wasn't flawless - her music had done what it was suppose to do - help people feel the spirit.
Cali expressed that she wished her performance had been flawless but I assured her that there was someone there today, in church, that needed her performance not to be flawless. They needed to feel the emotion and spirit that was in her sweet voice and in the congregation as a result of her imperfect performance.
Not being "perfect" is something I struggle with. I have high expectations of myself and of others despite the fact that I know none of us (including myself) are perfect.
I learned yesterday that through our imperfections and our mistakes, we not only grow as individuals, but we help others as well. We can touch other people's lives through our imperfect ones.
I love you Cali and am grateful for the lesson you provided me with.
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Leigh Anne has been married for 29 years and has four children with only one still living at home. She is an “experienced” mom. She refuses to call herself an older mom! Almost an empty nester she is learning how to adjust to the changes that it brings to your mothering and how to mother young adults! She shares her experiences as a mother, wife, homebased business owner, lover of good food and all things pretty over at her blog www.yourhomebasedmom.com.
