Almost

Sometimes it takes a lot of tries to get something right. Most things in life are a process. Here's what I learned from a recent experience with these cafe curtains. 

I bought them several years ago to put in the high windows in our Kirkland townhouse's narrow, two story living room windows to block the intense summer light and heat. When we moved to our new place we used them in our bedroom. Curtains on the bottom half of the window give us privacy but also let light in the top half of the window. The only problem was the two panels weren't quite wide enough. We made do and I would periodically try to find cafe curtains that were wide enough - or to match this pattern - or a pattern we liked well enough to buy two sets. We struck out on all accounts. I bought one set that was supposed to be wide enough but that proved to be false advertising and we didn't like the pattern well enough to buy two sets to get the width we needed. I was almost ready to make curtains. 

Then it came to me to see if there was a label on the back of the curtain with a clue as to the pattern. Duh! I'm embarrassed to admit that I hadn't thought of that before. There was enough information that I was able to find the exact pattern on Amazon. They arrived and I was thrilled to have finally found what I was looking for - almost. The color was ivory and our existing curtains are white. However, in that window and daylight you couldn't really tell the difference. It appeared to match - almost. For several days I went back and forth about whether or not it made a big enough difference and it was worth it to go through the hassle of returning and reordering. At this point I'd put in much more effort and time that was probably merited by the task that needed to be done. But I'd come this far and I wanted it to be "right." So I returned and reordered. 

Now it's right! And it looks good. 

What did I learn from this? What do I think of almost every time I see those curtains? You'll probably think this is quite a stretch, but it is a good reminder for me. I think of my discipleship of Christ. About how much effort it takes. And how we shouldn't settle because we're "almost" there. Some Christ-like attribute I'm working on is "almost" good enough and I can let up on further developing it. I should accept that discipleship is a journey and I need to keep moving forward and not stop with "almost." 

And that's what I learned from my experience with the curtains.