The Parable of the Zinnia

This is a lovely little zinnia that grew in my "flower garden".  Isn't it pretty??  The picture doesn't even do it justice - it's this cool peachy pink color, and it's perfectly pretty.  Let's all admire the beauty for a minute...    No, no...  don't look at anything around the flower - just look at that bloom.  Perfect.  

I must be a wonderful gardener if I can grow a flower like that.  Right now you might be beating yourself up because your flower garden doesn't look anything like mine must if I can grow a flower so perfect.

Now, take a step back.  Let's look at the whole picture shall we?

Yeah, those are weeds.  And see that tiny spot of what looks like yellow - kind of in the middle of the picture?  THAT's my perfect zinnia.

How often do we do that??  We pick out one feature, one quality, one pinterest perfect photo and feel inadequate because of the hot mess we feel we are.  How fair is that?  Especially when the truth is that the big picture is what tells the whole story.  The zinnia is no less beautiful because of the flaws and weeds that surround it - in fact, the contrast between the beauty of the flower and the mess of weeds is what makes it stand out.  

All of this long-windedness to say - let's quit comparing ourselves to the presented perfection that we see online and in magazines.  Because the truth of the matter is that behind the photographer, and beyond the staged vignette, within the seemingly perfect marriage/family, and inside the woman you have put on that pedestal there is a bigger picture.  There is a mess.  There is pain.  There are trials.  

No one is perfect.  No truly lived in home is alway immaculate and staged.  No family is without trial or conflict.  And that's okay.  That is what this life is intended to be.  So let's agree to give ourselves a break.  To strive to become our best selves - but not compared to anyone BUT ourselves.  

Because the zinnias in our lives are worth noticing.  The weeds can be pulled, and the dirt can get "fluffed", but new weeds will take their place {because they always do}.  Life will never be perfect, but there will always be beautiful elements and moments that make up for the yucky stuff.

We just have to look for them in our own lives and not in someone else's.   

I'm so grateful for the tender mercies that I have experienced through this particularly "weedy" time in my life.  My Heavenly Father truly is a loving father, and my Savior is truly my redeemer.  I am blessed even in my trials, and I trust that they are helping to shape me into whatever I am to become.