As I spent untold sweaty hours assembling Calvin's bed yesterday, a thought occurred to me: life is like assembling IKEA furniture. For those of you who have undertaken such a task, you know that it is a labor of love as well as a labor of frugality.
IKEA provides you with all of the parts you need, fantastic directions, a help line, and an efficient, well-engineered piece of furniture at the end of your labors. However, as we've all experienced, if you don't read the IKEA directions thoroughly or don't call the help line when you need it, you get midway (if you're lucky) through your project and realize that you've made a mistake or two early on that keep you from completing your piece. And, like I learned yesterday, when asking a two year old to pass me a dowel, it's easy to get distracted. I lost my place, built something wrong, and I had to break it down to start over.
**Sigh**
In life we start out with talents, skills, and traits; direction and inspiration from family, leaders, scriptures, etc.; and prayer. We hopefully recognize a well-lived life as a result of our labors. However, if we don't pay attention, get distracted (mostly by 2 year olds eating IKEA screws or hammering a brother on the head) or ignore help, we may also find ourselves down a frustrating path needing to make some changes.
Fortunately, I discovered my mistake long before Calvin climbed onto his new loft bed. Calvin enjoys his new bed with nary a sign of my mistake. May I have the sense to do the same as a parent and human-being (sometimes these are mutually exclusive)...and if not, may we find a good therapist for them when they grow up.
3 comments:
Very excellent analogy.
I heart the feeling I get after successfully building a complicated piece from the Ikea. I also heart the feeling I get when I have little successes in my seemingly complicated life. Glad to see you got the boy a cool bed.
So missing IKEA in Colorado. If there was one thing Colorado would be known for, it definitely would not be retail therapy!
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