Monday, May 17, 2010

The Wiggle Room

You’re invited inside. All are welcome. I’m sure you’ve been told before there’s little room for error… with this, with that. I’m sure you’ve been told this room is little.

Well, what do you think? Massive isn’t it? Check out the enormous chandeliers and the marble floors. Today and for you, the wiggle room is huge. There’s room for you. Room for your friends.

And guess what we do here all day? Laugh. Because God created laughter and sometimes you just need to double over with hilarity.

So have a good one. Tell a joke. Do cartwheels. Jump on a purple pogo stick. Greet a kangaroo in Spanish. Shake your body in a new way—dance.

But if you take one step inside the wiggle room, you must check your pride and perfectionism at the door. It’s okay to make mistakes because we trust God’s grace is big enough to cover us. It’s one reason we laugh so much in here. We’re free.

As a side, wouldn’t that be a fun name for a restaurant—The Wiggle Room?

Pick from any of the questions below. We're flexible here.
If you had a restaurant what would you name it?
What is one thing that has made you laugh recently?
What’s your impression of the wiggle room?
Is it sometimes hard for you to let go of your perfectionist ways?


*head on over to Warren Baldwin's blog to read my article about marriage books. Leave a comment and you might win a free copy of Kathi Lipp's, The Marriage Project!
**photos by flickr

29 comments:

  1. The very best laughter comes when I'm laughing at myself. There's something so liberating about it, knowing whatever punky thing I just did is okay. The latest time was this weekend, planting the garden and losing my footing in the freshly tilled soil. I'm sure I was a sight, and hope my tomato plants are happy now :)

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  2. I smiled when I read this post thinking about how your brain thinks! You are so imaginative sometimes!!
    I am a perfectionist and have tried hard to let it go. I have seen my daughter turn into one and realize how it isn't good for a person. Working on it!

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  3. My son made me laugh yesterday. I can't even remember what he was doing, but I laughed. :-) I like the idea of a wiggle room!

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  4. I like the wiggle room:) My three year old keeps me giggling, like yesterday when she went to run in the sprinkler she had to put on her "zoo'kini". You know Mom, the suit that has a hole in the middle for my tummy to stick out!

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  5. Yeah, thanks for inviting me--I need to spend about a year here!

    My granddaughter made me laugh yesterday when she called sauerkraut skunkyroot! ahahahahahaaah, I'm still laughing!

    Headed to Warren's...

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  6. Wendy, you are so creative. I appreciate the way you explore new ideas and topics or give old ones fresh slants.

    I'm a recovering perfectionist who needs to enlarge my teeny tiny wiggle room and spend more time there, especially when I'm creating the first draft of a story.

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  7. I crocheted a sweater for my mom's new puppy. Trying it on her this morning made me laugh. She was not happy!

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  8. YES, definitely hard to let go of some of the tendencies. Thankfully I am more selective about what to focus on than I was a few years ago. Gotta love a little room to wiggle!

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  9. I've gotten better, but it is hard to let go of some of those perfectionist tendencies. Work in progress, work in progress - what I keep telling myself! If I were perfect, I'd not need the Lord.

    Love the Wiggle Room! Great idea:)

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  10. With a family of six I've for sure had to let go of my perfectionistic ways! I often think when I'm old and gray I'll have a neat house. Boring but neat. ;)

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  11. If I had a restaurant, I'd have a cowboy theme, steaks, burgers, pie...and I'd call it Duke's because I'm a bigtime John Wayne fan. :)

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  12. Nice. I love it!
    If I had a restaurant I'd call it "The Dark Side". It would be a bakery/coffee/chocolate shop serving, you guessed it, dark chocolate and sinfully rich desserts!
    Happy Monday,
    Jen

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  13. Hey Wendy - Just saw your contest final on the Novel Matters blog! A huge congrats!!!

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  14. Echoing Sarah's congrats!! How very cool, Wendy! I'll be rooting for you to win! :-)

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  15. Congrats again on your finaling in the contest!

    You post is so much fun and a much needed exercise for me. I've been learning how to let go of perfection and strive for excellence instead. I still find I need wiggle room!!

    When I step inside the Wigglemaster's Wonderful Emporium I'm amazed at how large it is, yet saddly how few people are there. How I got there I do not know. They give me some special clothes to wear and I marvel at how the beautiful, colorful outfit fits perfectly. I don't know that I'd ever where it out in public, but it is just what I would have picked! I got to the counter and they serve me a Grace Latte in a tippy cup. I sit down on a soft and comfy seat, it is squishy and a molds to my form. I can lay down and relax and it molds to every contour. When I wander around I realize that everything is flexible - the floor, the walls, the tables, the people. People come up to greet me without hesitation, without reservation, and I don't try to impress. People bump into each other and laugh, when they fall down on the floor they bounce back up affected and laugh at their selves. There is a stage and people are getting out things to read and recite. It's the their writing that they are sharing with others. Everyone applauds, no one judges! After I've had my turn I'm invited to another soft round table with more squishy chairs and drink more tippy cups of Grace Latte and listen with eagerness to the amazing insights on my writing.Instead of wiggling in discomfort, I'm wiggling with glee, eager to learn more and not disheartened at all. In this place there is always room for improvement and I am happy for it!

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  16. Congratulations again on the contest! Still smiling for you :)

    I have a terrible time letting go of my perfectionist ways. It's something God works on in me all the time--and still there are moments when I don't cooperate. I've learned, however, that making myself vulnerable to Him is a great start. Have a SUPER day!

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  17. Hah. The only time I laughed at all this weekend was at church. They showed us this hilarious Xerox training video about the idea of information overload and how it affects the workplace, and of course the extension of how it affects our interactions with each other and with God. Here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXFEBbPIEOI Happy watching! :)

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  18. I love that, "Wiggle Room." I laughed at a blog with kids this afternoon. Such joy! My restaurant name? Off the top of my head, "Welcome Ya'll."

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  19. Wendy:
    Not sure when I laughed last. Didn't feel well yesterday.
    Name for my restaurant-"The Eatin' Place."
    If I could give it more thought, I could probably do better.

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  20. I am so far below perfect that I wouldn't stand a chance as a perfectionist. I'd be the most depressed person around!

    Ahem, but back to the question. What is one thing that made me laugh recently?

    We were driving through downtown Portland, OR, which is a much more diverse city than our small town in eastern Washington. Outside the window, I saw a lady wearing a Muslim burqa. My six-year-old son must've spotted her, too, because he yelled out: "Mommy, I just saw a lady dressed as a ninja!"

    Amy

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  21. Joanne, That's awesome. I love laughing at myself too. It happens often.

    Terri, Having read my work is giving you an inside on how this tangled thing operates. Nice. Thanks for all of your support lately.

    Jessica, Hope you enjoyed being in it today. My kids incite laughter all the time.

    Kara, Oh, I love it. I'm afraid of my zoo-kini this time of year. So glad to reconnect with you!!!

    Jeanette, I actually enjoy skunkyroot. There's really very few foods I won't eat. ;) And you know we'd have a blast in that room for a year.

    Keli, Thank you for those kind words. Sometimes I think God missed a wire when He wired me. Or put one too many in. I haven't decided yet, but either way I think I'm thankful.

    Julie, Animals + clothing = laughter from my mouth.

    Georgiana, I like to throw my arms out when I dance. My dad was famous for that. Room to move and breathe. Ahh.

    Karen, Oh, man am I a work in progress! Sometimes I think editing my ms is a lot of work...I wonder what God thinks about me sometimes. Piece o work!

    T.Anne, I'm with you. It's boring not to have clothes on the floor that should have been put away weeks ago or floors you can actually walk across without tripping over a toy. Hmmm. That was a nice, but brief fantasy.

    Erica, I am so there. We went to a great burger place this weekend. Even the left-overs were good!

    Jen, Are you trying to make me drool? Add some books and I might move in.

    Sarah, Thank you. My fingers shook for hours and I called my mom four times today! ;) Congrats to you on Genesis!!!

    Jody, You are a dear friend. I've been thinking of you lots lately.

    Carla, You and me, woman in those squishy chairs drinking Grace Lattes...someone is going to have to drag me away from that!

    Cindy, I think He has more "wiggle room" when we are humble and vulnerable before Him--to mold us into His image...and really there is no greater thing! Loving you.

    Lily, I'm going to have to check it out. I've had a zoo-kini day according to Kara's daughter.

    Karen, I'm blown away at how connected I can feel with other writers online through blogs. Blown away.

    quietspirit, I hope you are feeling better. There's a place called Eatin' Park in PA near where we go see my husband's grandma.

    A.L. Ha! That is awesome. Kids are so not afraid to say anything. And I'm with you about the perfectionist deal.

    People, thanks for the encouragement and kindness about the Novel Matters, Audience-With-An-Agent contest. I can't tell you how much I enjoy that blog. As a writer, I really appreciate how the ladies there address topics with such thought. I'm honored and moved beyond words to have made the finals.

    Cool side, my neighbor (from when I lived in Ohio) and friend, Nicole Amsler made it too. Now, there is some small world stuff for you.

    I'm enriched by your comments.

    Oh, and for those of you who might remember what I wrote shortly after my father's passing about walking ahead until I reach a clearing...today the clouds parted and I celebrated with God big time.

    Night.
    Love,
    Wendy

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  22. Hey lady! I wanted to send you an e-mail but then realized I don't have your address. ;-) Just popping by to say congrats on finaling in the Novel Matters Contest!!!!

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  23. If I had a restaurant the name would be original and creative. It would be THE HAMBURGER PLACE. And I really would like to have one someday. A restaurant for just hamburgers and french fries.

    wb

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  24. It is SO hard to let go of perfectionist ways! But my impression of the Wiggle Room is that it's a very good thing ... and maybe quite a nice space for generating new ideas!

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  25. Wendy, I just gave you another blog award on my blog. I couldn't help it. You're too fun and awesome not to award. :)

    Amy

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  26. You are such fun. Love The Wiggle Room and the laughter it inspires.

    During our years of hanging out in a fishing boat together, my dad and I would come up with ideas for restaurants. We both wanted to have a place called "Dad's Shore Lunch," inspired by our campfire lunches of walleye and potatoes out on the lakeshores of Canada. Thanks for this post, as it brought back that wonderful memory.

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  27. We laugh a lot around here, 'cause we're crazy like that. I am probably the most restrained of my family, so I don't just bust out laughing for anyone. My kids make me laugh. My sister and I always end up in hilarious laughter when we are together.

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  28. Wow, what a great post...I've always thought of wiggle room as restricting and being teeny tiny...but of course, now I see! Wiggle Room is as big as we make it...neat concept - for writing and life!

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