PERFECTLY IMPERFECT

A sweet friend, who knows that God sends me hearts in all different forms, sent me this picture.

 

 

I hope that you, too, can easily see the heart-shaped leaf that she noticed.

My friend’s message with the picture was insightful. She said,

“Yes there are holes and it is misshapen but it still holds blessings with more openings to flow through. Bless you, Christine.”

 

I was in awe of her words and responded immediately with my first thought which was, “perfectly imperfect–just like we are! I wonder if you just provided inspiration for me.”  Sure enough she did.

Isn’t it beautiful that God made heart-shaped creations that can remind us of His great love for us and at the same time a reminder for us to love others like He does? They always make me smile and marvel at God’s goodness.

Because of Jesus, who has filled our hearts with love, our lives are just like that tattered heart shaped leaf picture. Have you ever thought about that?

 

We are perfectly imperfect.

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.  –Romans 3:22-24  (NLT)

No matter how hard we try, we are all imperfect. Sin entered the world through Adam and Eve in the garden when they ate from the tree of life. We are made perfect by faith in Christ Jesus who went to death on a cross to free us and make us perfectly imperfect.

 

Photo courtesy of Ryan Rivera under Creative Commons License (CC BY-ND 2.0)

 

God is always reshaping and transforming us.

So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over. Then the Lord gave me this message: “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.”  –Jeremiah 18:3-6  (NLT)

One important goal of ours while on this earth is to continually allow God to grow and transform us into the beautiful creation that He intends us to be. Life is a journey to becoming more Christ-like as we prepare to spend eternity in heaven. God is always restoring and renewing us.

Blessings flow to and through us despite our scars.

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  –Lamentations 3:19-23  (NIV)

Hurts and scars are a natural part of life because of our humanity. Only God is perfect. Despite the low points in life we can have hope because God can make good out of the bad. Things do not always go our way but we can trust in the faithfulness of God.

 

Photo courtesy of Chronic Joy® under Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Be encouraged this week to…

… be grateful for being perfectly imperfect.

… be open to God’s transforming power in you.

… see the blessings that flow to and through you.

… reflect God’s love to all.

 

REFLECTION:

Do you need to work on accepting that you are perfectly imperfect?
What do you need to surrender to the Lord to help you be transformed more?

Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.  –2 Corinthians 12:9  (NLT)