Throwing Away my List

I make lists- from the most obscured to the most productive of lists. It helps keep me organized. I have to do lists, packing list, books, movies and CDs to buy list, things to accomplish in my life before I die, a to do list for my summer (which, by the way, I’ve barely dented because my summer’s never turn out like I originally plan). I even have a list of what I imagine the perfect guy to be, and I even have the audacity to think I’m going to find this fictional character I have written down on paper! Baby blue eyes set off by bark brown hair; romantic while being a little rusty on the edges; a rough past of drugs and alcohol yet found God and is secure in Him; has the same passions and desires as I do, especially when it comes to the Middle East; sings and plays guitar exceptionally well- well enough to be a rock star! Trust me, the list could go on forever of the images I have built up in my mind of what the ideal guy to me is - I even have a preference of boxers Vs briefs!
I think we set standards too high for people sometimes, especially when it comes to looking for our “Soul Mate.” Even if we don’t subconsciously realize it, we do already have the ideal Soul Mate planned out in our heads, and when we meet someone along the way, we compare them to this fictional figure. When they fail to meet the specifications, we get disgusted with them for being anything less than what we wanted them to be. Sometimes we even try to change who they are to allow them to fit our list a little more accurately: “Oh! You play the drums? Well, here, try this guitar on for size, why don’t you.”
I’ve realized my list of the perfect guy is probably more obscured and fictional than Edward Cullen.
Imagine if God made a list of specifications He wanted humans to be, and wouldn’t accept anything less than that? We already fall short of the Glory of God as it is, but through Grace He is merciful and accepts our wretchedness, our stench of sin, or lack of perfection for the perfectionist He is. Frankly said, we would be screwed. We would see that there really was no point to even try to achieve this unrealistic set of standards, and the whole world would be more damned than it already is! Although God did give an example to live by- Jesus Christ- He also realizes that human nature denies them the ability to obtain such perfection as Christos. Fortunately, He is gracious and merciful, and accepts our wretchedness, all because He tossed out that list of standards He had.

Nature has perfection, in order to show that she is the image of God;
and defects, to show that she is ONLY His image
- Blaise Pascal

I’m wadding up my list of perfection and tossing it out the window of fictional. I’m going to let God, form out of the clay and dust that He created me from, to create the ideal “Soul Mate” He already has for me. I’m going to make a new list- a list that focuses on the aspects and characteristics I should have, the flaws I should mend, the replacement parts I need to make myself more ideal to fit the list God presented to us through His son, so that I can be His perfection.