Perfection Amid Chaos

I get it. I'm finally able to see Divine Perfection amid chaos. Much of the time at least. Here’s a recent example.

I decided to go to IKEA a mere 48 miles away from home on a Friday afternoon and talked my strong son into coming (someone had to lift those boxes). My plan was simple: drive an hour, grab something to eat, quickly locate what I needed from my list, check out and be back home before afternoon rush hour traffic. I’d have plenty of time to go home, change and attend the visitation of a friend’s dad at the local funeral home that evening. All was good. Or so I thought.

But Life happened. We were late leaving the house, there was a problem with lunch, not all of the items I wanted could be located, and there was a HUGE issue with my intended “speedy” checkout and delivery process. Of course we were late leaving the store, which put us “smack dab” in the middle of the worst rush hour traffic in the country. Great. For a few minutes I was concerned about the snarled traffic and erratic driving style of the adjacent drivers, being late for the funeral visitation and inconveniencing my son. Then I remembered there is Divine Perfection in every moment. And I started to look for it.

Amid the chaos of the grueling traffic, my son and I had a beautiful heartfelt conversation about our life goals and what we wanted for our careers over the next few years. He shared some sensitive and loving insights about his life that touched my heart as I realized (again) what an incredible guy he is.

We had taken a back road thinking we’d miss some of the traffic, but another thousand or so commuters had the same thought, so we continued to crawl along the scenic back roads meandering toward home. We saw sparkling landscapes we’d never noticed when we typically whizzed by at 55 miles per hour. We noticed majestic trees, interesting homes, and fascinating looking people in cars next to us. We listened to music on the radio and sang along to a few familiar tunes. What I had feared would be a nightmare ride, became the best part of the day. I saw the Divine Perfection in it.

I made it home in plenty of time to pay my respects at the funeral home, and my husband and I even managed a late romantic dinner. I realized my experience of the day would have been drastically different if I had allowed anger to take over when my carefully crafted plan had been changed. It’s so energizing when a truth I’ve realized before gets reinforced on an even deeper level.  

The gift of this day was that I was able to understand how Divine Perfection exists in even the most chaotic situations, which results in deeper inner peace for me. Chaos takes many forms. What I perceived as chaos paled in comparison to someone who’s lost a child, had a job termination or other life altering event. Even in those situations, I am convinced there is Divine Perfection. In retrospect, I can see it in the death of my own loved ones and in a devastating divorce.  

OK, God...I get it. You do have this Life thing. I'm going to concentrate on allowing the good to surface in situations instead of micro managing every detail. And I know the greater good is there whether I recognize it or not. I’m trusting in the Divine Perfection of it all.