Imperfections

Affluence has elevated us to a position where we can no longer tolerate even the slightest imperfection. Only perfectly undented cans, perfectly crease-free books, and perfectly symmetrical garments ever go into our shopping carts. We think that we deserve the best goods for the money we've paid.

Then, we apply the same standard to other things. We only want and will only make perfectly beautiful babies. People even go to the extent of seeking scientific help in order to make that possible. They select the best genes to be passed on to the next generation, in the hope that they will create babies as special and as talented as Yao Ming.

But what if God still decides to give us a slightly less-than-perfect child? Will we still be able to call her a Gift of Grace? Will we be able to look into her eyes and see beauty beyond description? Can we look into her face and see the image of God? Or do we see an ugly little monster staring back at us?

I was born with some imperfections of my own. I was born with a retarded mind, so much so that I cannot understand most of the things He is trying to tell me. I have too big a head, and I think that I can do things without His help. My hearing is slightly impaired. I cannot hear Him speaking to me most of the time, and very often, He had to resort to yelling at me. I suffer from severe short-sightedness. I can never see beyond the present. I have too loud a mouth, and time and again, I have said things that are a little less than pleasant to my Creator. My hands have too strong a grip, and I have problem letting go of things. I am faint-hearted. I easily lose faith and get discouraged over and over again. My legs are so long that sometimes I run too fast and too far away from where He wants me to be. I am the embodiment of Imperfections.

Yet, He has called me a Child of Grace. Yet, He said that I was "fearfully and wonderfully made". Yet, He has picked me up and clothed me in His love and His righteousness. Yet, He had chosen to lay down His life for a bundle of Imperfections.

He must have had a different definition of the word 'perfection'. Or else, He must have seen something that I could not see. Or perhaps, He has looked at me through a different pair of lenses; a pair of lenses that tranforms Imperfections to Perfections.