A Shower of Brides

So this weekend I was pleased (I guess) to be invited to my friend's bridal shower. She is getting married in two weeks and I am so happy for her to have found her eternal companion. This was your typical bridal shower with the usual games (Like the "What's in your purse game?" which I won!) as well as general embarassing of the bride to be. The first thing that we had to do was to write some encouragement/advice for the bride. Now, I wrote down all the things that people had told me, and I wrote down what I thought she should know, but then I hit a dead end. I stopped and I needed to think what it was that she needed to hear. Everyone is so individual that it is hard to know what kind of advice she needs. I don't know what she is dealing with inside, so I paused and took a little more time to reflect. I simply told her to relax and that life is too short to stress over the things that just don't matter.

It was at this point that the lightbulb went off above my head. I stress the silly things, I freak out (internally) about the things that don't matter. I think that we as women, particularly in our Church, feel like we are inadequate. We feel like we have to do so much more, and be so much better. I think that to some extent this is true. But, I think that so many of us have taken it to the next level.

It took a simple bridal shower for me to realize that I am being too hard on myself for the things that I am having trouble with. And if I have any advice for any woman, married or single, it is to let yourself relax a little and realize that even if you aren't perfect, you are still special and that perfection can be overrated.