ideals

Last week's to-do lists had several major projects marked for finishing. For finishing, that is, that week. With a performing arts tour coming up in July and various Soli Deo Gloria Ballet matters to focus on, I really wanted to get the biggest writing, editing, publishing, and formatting projects wrapped up and safely tucked away where I no longer need to think about them.

Well. Life is not generally so tidy.

I didn't actually finish any of the major projects I had listed. But that doesn't mean my lists failed! On the contrary, I got so much work done on all of these things that they are now all teetering on the brink of finished. I didn't meet my self-imposed deadlines, but I'm very, very close.

In a funny way this reminds me of the Peculiar post I wrote about the virtuous woman last week. My good friend Alexis read it, and we discussed it a bit one day. We've both heard Christian women who openly resented the Virtuous Woman of Proverbs 31, sometimes even mocking her. That, I think, is sad. It's true that this woman's industry and faithfulness make most of us look bad--they certainly convict me. But if we didn't have ideals--crazy, far-off goals to shoot for--we'd never get anywhere.

If nothing else, at least we will have lived in the light that ideals give. If we shoot for the moon, we may never reach it--but at least we shot for the moon! How much better than to live always in darkness, hiding away from the light?

Ideals are worth holding, and trying to reach, and writing about.