My husband Ray can be loud, funny, opinionated, and capable of driving me crazy on occasion, but he has a way of coming up with little gems that have a particular ring of truth. Today was an example.
Today I said to him, “I don’t want to snap at you but sometimes I just can’t seem to help myself, particularly when you tease me.”
He said, “Just let it go.”
“But,” I said, “sometimes I can’t seem to do that and I think it makes other people uncomfortable if we are snappy with each other. Can we figure out a better way to handle that?”
Here’s comes the wisdom:
Ray said, “Len, let yourself be human and let people around you be human, too. You don’t have to be perfect and neither does anybody else.”
I can’t quite capture how I felt when I heard those words. It’s not that they are so different from others that I’ve heard before, but today, right at that moment (and maybe even again now) I find myself able to breathe a littler easier. “Let yourself be human and let others be human, too.”
In other words, “We’re all flawed, so cut yourself and everybody else just a little more slack. It’s okay.”
“But what about self-improvement and always striving to do better?”
“Let yourself be human and let those around you be human, too.”
That could also translate to, “Forgive yourself and forgive others, too.”
You see how my spouse did indeed share some words of wisdom today?
I am grateful for that good advice. I just hope I can follow it. I guess that’s where grace comes in.
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