Beauty in the Imperfect by Linda Greason
O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Thy name in all the earth . . . What is [humanity] that you take thought of [us] . . . (Psalm 8:1, 4 NASB)
One by one, each of the carefully created and handmade barn-wood gifts were brought into the living room. The wood, taken from a life-long neighbor’s barn, held expressions of love and served as a tangible remembrance of times past on the farm. My father-in-law had built a jelly cupboard, a curio cabinet, and a storage bin. The storage bin was gifted to me, and as I admired the craftsmanship, I noticed a slight flaw that my teacher’s eyes could not un-see. However, sitting among the joy and pride radiating from the gift giver, I did not dream of pointing out the imperfection. My husband looked at the gift, noticed the imperfection, and smiled to himself but remained mute. My father-in-law was an observant fellow and noticed us looking at the bin on which he had engraved the word “potaoes.” Immediately, he grimaced and said, “Oh no!” We both smiled and tried to impress upon him how much I truly loved the gift.
“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name . . . what is a human that thou are mindful of him (her)?” Despite our imperfections, our Heavenly Father loves us because we are His and His creation. Where we see flaws, God sees uniqueness; where we see imperfections, God sees possibilities! Today is the anniversary of my father-in-law’s birthday (he passed away in 2005), and when I think of his perfectly imperfect gift, I wonder if I can do a better job of looking for uniqueness and possibilities in others rather than imperfections and idiosyncrasies. After all, our Creator, while mindful of us, does not dwell on the flaws or “misspellings” in our lives.
My “potaoe” bin will always be treasured because of the maker and the love with which it was created. Because of whose we are, shouldn’t we treasure ourselves and our neighbors for the same reason? By doing so, Christmas CAN make a change, be it perfect or not, in your life and possibly in the life of another.
Linda Greason