Here’s this week’s installment of Five Minute Friday. You might remember the task is to write for five minutes on a specific prompt word. The initiative was started by Lisa-Jo Baker (http://lisajobaker.com/2013/07/five-minute-friday-beautiful/) who thought about writing and how often our perfectionism gets in the way of our words. And she figured, why not take five minutes and see what comes out: not a perfect post, not a profound post, just five minutes of focused writing.

This week’s prompt is BEAUTIFUL. The clock starts NOW …

It’s amazing how we all look at life through it’s imperfections, myself included. We notice the flaws. We notice the bare spot on the Christmas tree. We notice the weeds in the garden. We focus on extra pounds or the gray hairs on our head.

Instead, life  is beautiful, even with its imperfections. Perhaps it is because of the imperfections.

This assignment reminded me of a story I read about a man who lived the American dream. He bought a house in the suburbs but was always complaining. The grass was riddled with weeds. The garden wasn’t growing. The paint was peeling.

His father, who lived his entire life in the big city, came out for a visit. He looked around and as his son joined him, said. “Son, your lawn looks so nice.:

The young man said, “Dad, no. It’s covered with dandelions. it’s absolutely horrid.”

“No, son. It is beautiful. Those little yellow flowers just add so much color … STOP

… So, you see. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If we look for it, we’ll find it … even among the imperfections.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: An egotist is a person who is always “me-deep” in conversation.