ILLUSION OF PERFECTION

Perfection is like a dog chasing his tail. He may never catch it and if he did it would hurt. Perfection is that thing we sometimes pursue but never reach.

After almost seven decades on this ball of dirt, many things in my life can be described as in the words of an old Scottish man, “Well, that’a do!” I have come to realize some skills I have tried to perfect ended up with the grade of “B” or a “C”. I’ll just need to live with “that’a do.”

Some things look perfect at a distance. We could name celebrities who looked as if they had it all, but then we were shocked when their lives dissolved into ruin.

You remember that perfect car you just had to have? Well, it ended in a junk yard and then graduated to a furnace somewhere. Part of its molecular makeup is in someone’s refrigerator.

Oh, the pursuit of perfection. Even the top-rated quarterback sometimes throws an interception. The kicker who never misses, wouldn’t you know it, he missed!

Even a knife sharpened to “perfection” with a polished edge when viewed under a microscope would have scratches even though it was honed on a 6000 grit water stone. Absolute perfection is elusive.

I’m not saying to forsake excellent standards or accept poor workmanship. The point is not to get sucked into the vortex of perfection. Many people get frustrated and do nothing because it is not perfect. I had rather build a box not so square than to not build a box.

My grandfather who plowed with a mule wanted his rows to be straight and they were quite straight. I doubt if the mule was impressed. The corn seed would have sprouted on a crooked row as well as a straight row.

I smiled when shabby chic became a thing. Distressed and imperfect furniture pieces were my life growing up. Well used and not carefully taken care of became the new fad. Who would have ‘thunk’ it? [I just had to throw an imperfect word in this post!]

We need to remind ourselves that in this broken world, there is no perfection. There are no perfect individuals. No perfect families. No perfect churches. No perfect jobs. No perfect anything!

I am the perfect example of imperfection. When I look into the mirror, I see imperfection, but I still comb my hair. When I listen to a recording of my voice, I am almost horrified, yet I keep on preaching. When I make something with my hands, I see the flaws that many do not see, but I keep on making stuff. I can edit this blog post twenty times and still find an error once it is published. I keep hitting the keys!

My dear friend, Mitchell Gibbs, can do almost anything. He has carved bears with a chainsaw. He has made fiddles, banjos, guns, knives, churches, and houses with his hands. I showed him a few spoons I had hand carved, pointing out my imperfections. I never will forget his response, “Harry, the imperfections lets everybody know that they were made by hand.”

An old preacher was quoted as saying, “The world has never seen a man who was totally surrendered to God!” And then he added, “By the grace of God I will be that man.” When I first heard that quote, I agreed with his first sentence. But on second thought, I disagree. There has been one Man who was totally surrendered and obedient to our Heavenly Father. It was not that old preacher and certainly not me. That man was none other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the Son of Man. He was perfect. The world has seen one perfect Man. The perfect had to be the once and for all sacrifice for the imperfect.

“For He [God the Father] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21 NKJV).

This is certainly not a perfect post, but it ended on a perfect note!

Yours on the Journey,

Harry L. Whitt