The Perfect Life?

I awoke, and this thought jumped into fast gear and will not slow down. It’s a Perfect Life we each live, right? Reality and truth go hand-in-glove and speak: Not So Fast! We may tell ourselves it’s perfect, but we don’t live as perfectly as we think. The reality is probably something like this:

There is no such thing as a perfect life. Ask Adam and Eve.

Those first few chapters of Genesis show how good of a life they had, but there are ways to turn good into bad. A nemesis unveils a new thought, and before you know it, Adam and Eve jumped in with both feet! Failure! Where’s the perfection in that?

Maybe the key is to identify what one means when one thinks of perfection.

There is a big difference between perfection and ideal. The idea of perfection is often suspect because what’s perfect for one is not perfect for all. The concept of an ideal life may be as close to perfection as we can.

My idea of perfection is in a colder country with fewer souls, and I can go days without the noise of community. Talking with a neighbor this week who enjoys the beach, well, our perfect lives are miles apart. When I think of the beach, I think of sand, grit, wind, salt, sun, and burned bodies everywhere. That’s not perfection! If you know me, you will see the reverse is true. Cold, snow, ice, glacier, mountains, cold rivers, and Robert Frost’s quietness of moving through the woods on the road less traveled.

Making The Best

So, learning to make the best of any situation could change our view of our perfect life, although it is not ideal. When we find ourselves in less than perfect conditions, our resiliency shows we can adapt to the season of life.

Perhaps that’s the best definition of having a perfect life.

The Apostle Paul stated an absolute that speaks of his resilient nature: [Emphasis Mine]

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:
I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound.
Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry,
both to abound and to suffer need.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:11-13 NKJV

I’ve reached that time of life when “retirement” is supposed to be my occupation, but life is not revealing this path. So, I make the best of the times and circumstances and keep moving and doing until that future shows up on my doorstep.

Here’s The Key

The Perfect Life starts inside. It’s the foundation of all happiness, enjoyment, and contentment. Who and What you are on the inside helps you address what’s happening around you.

I know some who are so panicked about the pandemic they stay home and away. Something inside is dictating their outward response. Fortunately, their career and residence allow them the opportunity to live such a life. Their castle has fortified walls, difficult paths to reach them, and the moat is full of alligators.

But what about all those working to supply you with your needs? They go to work, rub shoulders with the world, and breathe the same air in confined spaces.

Who has it better? Your answer is telling.

One of my favorite storytellers after WWII was, and still is, Alistair MacLean. He penned a novel in 1962, The Satan Bug, and it was made into a movie in 1965. As you can imagine, a horrible bioweapon is missing, and the story deals with trying to stop the destruction that is sure to wipe out human life.

Sound familiar? Well, it’s a popular theme in hundreds of other stories dealing with similar events. A perfect life can be wiped out in seconds, and you can do nothing about it. Or can you?

Live Purposefully

The Perfect Life is not about your little slice of heaven but includes what’s happening worldwide that may even affect you in your corner of life. This is the life that thinks about others before self because we are not isolated from the global existence.

Go back to Paul’s writing, and pick up where I left off previously.

Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress.
Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia,
no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only.
For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities.
Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.
Indeed I have all and abound.
I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you,
a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.
And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:14-19 NKJV

Paul is writing from prison in Rome, and this letter may be one of his last communique before his death. What Philippi has assisted him in doing is to win souls. He’s one of those followers of Christ long after Christ has departed. His mission (Acts 9:15-16, etc.) is to be a witness. Nothing about a perfect life equals what you and I may think. He’s living his life perfectly before the Lord, and there’s no better life for him to live than this.

He’s living purposefully. It’s his perfect life, and his reward is not here but there. Life may be a wilderness here, but there’s life after the wilderness.

What does your Perfect Life look like today?