Four year-old Kuya Hope and I were so excited to open the new parcel.
It was a paint-by-numbers kit of Anya Forger, the little kid spy in SpyxFamily. Anya has telephatic abilities, unbeknownst to her adoptive parents.
But this post isn’t about Anya. Let me share with you my thoughts as I tried my best to “repair” Anya.
When we opened the parcel, I told little Kuya Hope that I can only help him with the first color. He’ll have to do the rest of the painting. I’ll help him with some repairs later on after he’s done. He happily agreed.
We sort of finished number 1 the first night.
The next day, Kuya Hope and I had our simultaneous paint-by-numbers activity. He worked on Anya while I worked on Asian Princess.
Kuya Hope cheerily went thru the activity. Every now and then, I helped him to close and open little paint lids and refill his little cup of paint water. (You need a little bit of water to rinse off your brush before proceeding to the next color). For someone his age, I’m proud to report that he didn’t make a major-major spill.
Perhaps a good one hour has passed when Kuya Hope announced that he was done. He told me that I had to repair Anya. I looked at the painting.
He was able to paint correctly, according to number. There was a glob here… and there… and wow, alright, a glob there, too. I tried to see it thru my kindergarten eyes.
I asked little Kuya Hope to confirm if he enjoyed the activity. I praised his efforts and his focus. I assured him that it would be easier to repair Anya once the first coat of paint has dried up.
I remember the little one saying, “I made a mistake.” The way he said it so casually reminded me of the purity and beauty of a child’s humility. We can learn so much from little ones if we only take the time to listen.
As I repaired Anya, I pondered on these questions: How much time in our lives do we spend repairing just to show a beautiful picture? How many globs do we need to paint over or straighten out for the end result to be close to perfection? How humble are we to admit that we’ve made a mistake?
If perfectionism is your addiction, perhaps ‘Be perfect, just as your Father is perfect,” is one of your favorite Bible verses or mantra.
Yet we can never fully attain perfection this side of eternity, can we? We can only be faithful in the little things and do everything – no matter how little – with great love. Do everything as unto the LORD, not as unto men.
A life of worship is a life of peace, beauty and perfection – not in the eyes of people – but in the eyes of our loving Heavenly Father.
Perfection on this side of eternity is fickle and finicky. Perfection in God’s eyes, on the other hand, is a matter of the heart.
How’s your heart today?
ancore! 