OPD – Obsessive Perfection Disorder. I definitely have it. I self-diagnosed myself yesterday. The house was so quiet. The kids were outside playing. My husband was running errands and I was left with the beautiful sound of my own thoughts. (I rather enjoy that sound from time to time.) While I had this precious time, I realized that I wasn’t using it. I was walking around the house incessantly picking up and obsessing over anything out of place and I moved through each room, I was noting if it were ah, finally perfect. To myself I was like, “this is weird.” The perfect areas, I smiled and quickly moved past, but the areas where things were out of place I not only focused on – I obsessed.
As I caught myself, I realized that is what we do in life. We gingerly glide by the perfect areas and obsess over areas needing our attention. We don’t enjoy the living in our accomplishments and joys, but rather we obsess over what’s still not quite right. We can have 8 perfect things, 8 perfect areas, but yet we focus on the 2 that have dust along the trim or where something that isn’t quite perfect.
Why did I not spend time in the perfect areas and bask in their beauty, enjoy some time relishing in its splendor. These were the peaceful, beautiful places where I felt most accomplished. These areas were not always so inviting and calm. Yet, I gave them a nod and moved onto something that needed to be perfected to obsess about. Obsessive Perfection Disorder is robbing me of so much. It robs me of enjoying the fruits of my labor. It robs me of appreciating my blessings. It robs me of living in my present. It steals the gift of today.
Our contentment and joy in life comes from what we focus on. I don’t want to regret that I missed the beauty of my present, because I obsessed over the areas still in process. There is so much good in our lives if only we would take the time not just to see it, but to bask in it. This week, let’s spend sometime in the beautiful rooms of our life. Let’s stand in their doorways, look around, smile, and take in their beauty.
God Applied 