Perfect to More Perfect.

Once upon a time there was a little boy who loved painting. One day on his way back from school, he decided to take a short cut through the woods and the lake. After a while, he noticed the sun setting. He turned to get the fuller view and was awe struck by the beauty, the majesty of the scene. So mermarized was the little boy that he decided to capture it in his memory. He got so lost in just staring right into the scenic sunset that he lost track of time. And so lost was he that he did not even notice the dark engulfing the woods. He was jolted and brought back by the wolf far away. He shook his head and ran back home. 

For days, he would go on describing the beauty he had experienced. He seemed obsessed with it. Completely obsessed. He was deliberately take the shorter route just to re-experience the scene. However, to his dismay, it never really happened as beautifully as that one spring evening. 

The monsoon finally set in and it became harder to catch glimpse of the clearer sky. 

Time passed and he started his next year at school. One day, the school made a plan to visit the nearby mountain top. He was excited. He took all his paints, his canvas, his colors along. 

Upon reaching the top, the students were thrilled. Lush green valleys, fresh lake and the sun. It was just such a perfect view. Excitedly, the little boy arranged himself in one corner, took out his canvas and set up his colors to capture the scene. 

Midway through, his old teacher walked by. She noticed something and stopped. 

"What are you painting little one?" She asked smiling at him. 

"Oh, just the beautiful setting sun and the mountains. Look, how beautiful the scene is!"

"Indeed it is, and so is your painting coming out to be. But I don't quite understand. Your painting isn't exactly what the backdrop is. Are you using your artistic imagination to beautify it further? She exclaimed. 

"Nope. Well, sometime back, I had one experienced a beautiful sunset. I had just absolutely fallen in love with the way it was. It was so perfect. I still remember the crisp smell of that day even! The colors. The shades. The reflection. It was so perfect. I am just trying to put it in here."

"Tell me, which one is better, that scene of that day or today?" She seemed disturbed. 

"Hmm, both. In their ways I guess. But that is not the point.." He started defending.

"Wait. Pause. No. If that was perfect, why would you want to capture this as well. That was perfect then. This is perfect now. Perfection of worldly nature is not like Absolute Perfection. Perfection in worldly nature is confined in the moments. Fate defines those moments."

We are all like this little stupid kid. We experience something perfect, something that resonates well, we want it. We capture it. We get busy in devising ways to make the experience last. To not to lose the perfection. And when we feel it slipping away, we justify our failed attempts at its extension. We list out reasons and justifications for the perfection to last. But it does not. Because perfection lasts for a moment. 

We go wrong when we get stuck in that moment and try replicating its perfections to the imperfections of our life. Maybe if I can borrow a bit of color from that past and put it in here. Maybe that'll make this picture perfect. The way I want it. We forget that moments pass, giving us another perfect moment. We forget that time walks by, giving us countless more perfect moments. 

So blinded are we, that we forget to Trust Him and His ways of further Perfecting our Lives. We trust our addiction to suffering, to pain more than we Trust Him to give us Better Experiences. We don't see the fuller colors of Today - not because the Perfection doesn't exist, but because we are too busy finding imperfections and filling it up from past colors.

We feel guilty at accepting and living the Perfection of the moment and then we wonder on how to express Gratitude to Him. The Biggest expression of Gratitude to Him is by Experiencing, admitting and living the Most Perfect Moment of Now. By trusting Him that He will only give you a much more Perfect Experience than ever before. 

He develops you and your life forward. Improves it. Progresses it. He doesn't work backwards. He takes you Forward.