I was listening to an inspirational audio recording yesterday with my wife when I heard something that really resonated. It's not a particularly new idea and in fact I've blogged on this here already but simply the way the speaker put it struck a cord.
The idea is fairly simple. We get too caught up in trying to be perfect when it's our imperfections that give us character.
He gave the examples of wood, marble, and jade. You don't look at the lines on a wooden surface and think 'Oh, those should be straighter' or that the lines on a marble counter should be more equally spaced. Of course not! There's beauty in it's imperfection.
I think of the hours I've spent watching the flames in my old wood stove (when it was still real wood not gas), or watching the waves lap up against the shore on the beach outside. No two flames or waves are exactly the same. It's different every time. It's what makes it so enchanting. I know the instant I switched to a gas 'wood' stove the flames lost most of their appeal. It was static. Too perfect.
Yet we continually look at ourselves and say 'we're too flawed.' Well, this will come as no surprise but we're all flawed. We may not think so, but it's true. Never compare yourself to anyone else - you don't know their story. Tiger Woods seemed to have it all together - fame, money, incredible success, a beautiful wife and family. It would have been very easy to compare ourselves to him and find ourselves lacking - until his very public family dispute and the revelations of rampant infidelity. Suddenly his life didn't look so perfect. You simply don't know what you don't know. No one in this life is perfect. We are all flawed. And that's what make us beautiful.
God knew exactly what he was doing. It's man that has this false sense of 'perfection'. If you look at nature, there are no straight lines or perfect circles. Trees do not grow up in perfect 90 degree angles from the ground - all the time, always. Stars are not equally spaced apart. Lakes do not form in perfectly round circles. Yet it all works in perfect accordance. When you look at man's world what do you see? Boxy homes and buildings, straight roads, symmetry in everything, all these perfect lines or predetermined curves. There are practical reasons for that but it's at total odds with the natural world.
In the same way we look at ourselves and want to see this human concept of perfection. Slim, yet curvy women, men with rock hard abs and pecs - not to mention a total lack of body hair. Millions of dollars in earnings. Fame. Tremendous skill at something of note. We think if only we had all that, then we'd be happy and 'successful'. Yet, here's Tiger Woods with all that, in spades, self-destructing because he needs something else to fill his empty nights. The human concept of perfection is flawed, shallow and hollow.
God made you perfect from day one. Yes, perfect in your disadvantages.
"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." ~ 2 Corinthians 12:9
We were never intended to be whole and complete on our own. John 15:5. We are a part of the body of Christ. Part of a bigger whole. When we realize that, we can stop finding ourselves lacking and realize we all have something to offer, from our own unique perspective.
It's not about agrandizing ourselves but rather using the gifts God's given us to benefit others.
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”" ~ Mark 12:30-31
The idea is fairly simple. We get too caught up in trying to be perfect when it's our imperfections that give us character.
He gave the examples of wood, marble, and jade. You don't look at the lines on a wooden surface and think 'Oh, those should be straighter' or that the lines on a marble counter should be more equally spaced. Of course not! There's beauty in it's imperfection.
I think of the hours I've spent watching the flames in my old wood stove (when it was still real wood not gas), or watching the waves lap up against the shore on the beach outside. No two flames or waves are exactly the same. It's different every time. It's what makes it so enchanting. I know the instant I switched to a gas 'wood' stove the flames lost most of their appeal. It was static. Too perfect.
Yet we continually look at ourselves and say 'we're too flawed.' Well, this will come as no surprise but we're all flawed. We may not think so, but it's true. Never compare yourself to anyone else - you don't know their story. Tiger Woods seemed to have it all together - fame, money, incredible success, a beautiful wife and family. It would have been very easy to compare ourselves to him and find ourselves lacking - until his very public family dispute and the revelations of rampant infidelity. Suddenly his life didn't look so perfect. You simply don't know what you don't know. No one in this life is perfect. We are all flawed. And that's what make us beautiful.
God knew exactly what he was doing. It's man that has this false sense of 'perfection'. If you look at nature, there are no straight lines or perfect circles. Trees do not grow up in perfect 90 degree angles from the ground - all the time, always. Stars are not equally spaced apart. Lakes do not form in perfectly round circles. Yet it all works in perfect accordance. When you look at man's world what do you see? Boxy homes and buildings, straight roads, symmetry in everything, all these perfect lines or predetermined curves. There are practical reasons for that but it's at total odds with the natural world.
In the same way we look at ourselves and want to see this human concept of perfection. Slim, yet curvy women, men with rock hard abs and pecs - not to mention a total lack of body hair. Millions of dollars in earnings. Fame. Tremendous skill at something of note. We think if only we had all that, then we'd be happy and 'successful'. Yet, here's Tiger Woods with all that, in spades, self-destructing because he needs something else to fill his empty nights. The human concept of perfection is flawed, shallow and hollow.
God made you perfect from day one. Yes, perfect in your disadvantages.
"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." ~ 2 Corinthians 12:9
We were never intended to be whole and complete on our own. John 15:5. We are a part of the body of Christ. Part of a bigger whole. When we realize that, we can stop finding ourselves lacking and realize we all have something to offer, from our own unique perspective.
It's not about agrandizing ourselves but rather using the gifts God's given us to benefit others.
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”" ~ Mark 12:30-31
There's nothing wrong with being Happy, Healthy, Wealthy and Wise - God intents that for everyone. But without Love none of that matters. 1 Corinthians 13 God's idea of perfection is Love.
We are all imperfect people, born to help other imperfect people find self-love, God love and love for others. When we do that, then we find a lasting happiness that needs no substitution. Like flames of a fire, or waves cascading onto the shore each unique onto themselves, each here only for a brief moment in time but glorious and beautiful in their imperfection.
Yes, always strive to be a better person but we also need to accept ourselves and love ourselves just the way we are - God does - and know we have so much to offer this world, and the world is waiting for us to stop judging and limiting ourselves and to arrive in our own manifast beauty.
Preston Squire is an author, blogger and success coach - committed to helping others become Happy, Healthy, Wealthy and Wise.
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