Learning to Accept Imperfections

Last week, while in the hospital waiting room, I picked up a magazine to pass the time. Near the beginning of the bright red glossy pages, there was a passage that made me pause.
Learning to accept your imperfections
That's a hard thing to do, isn't it? Accept the things about yourself that you like least? What makes this even harder is the world that we live in. A world full of people who judge you for the very imperfections that make you cringe when you look in a mirror.
Unfortunately, it pains me to admit that I'm part of that world. Part of the large population of people who feel better when they compare themselves to others, and find the others lacking.
It's so easy to do. Feeling a few pounds overweight is nothing compared to someone who is three times your size. When you feel like a bad parent, all you have to do is look down on all the parents around you who are obviously not doing their job. At least, the ones that you feel are not doing their job.
Think you're a bad housekeeper? When you see the house with faded plastic toys in the front yard and trash bags piled on the front porch, you can't help but believe that you're doing a better job.
For me, I believe that this judgement stems from not accepting the parts of myself that I like least. For believing that, due to these imperfections, I am somehow less in people's eyes. In God's eyes.
But God doesn't work that way. He doesn't judge us based on our imperfect natures or our flaws. At least not now. The handsome President of the Company isn't placed higher than the aging janitor. God values them both, loves them both the same. Just as a parent loves each and every one of their children with all their heart.
Although I've often heard the phrase, "We are all perfect in God's eyes", I think that it should say
In God's eyes, we are all equally imperfect
Every one of us has our flaws, our imperfections, that separate us from God. And somehow, I know I need to learn to accept the flaws that I see in myself. If I take that first step I can accept what I perceive as flaws in others around me. To accept them for who they are, and not judge them for who I think they should be.

I've been taking baby steps - from not judging the driver who cut me off in the snow, to smiling at the guy who failed to hold the door open for me when I had my hands full. We all have our bad days.
And it's not my place to judge someone on what might potentially be the worst day of their life.

God knows what is in their heart, not me.

And perhaps there is a reason I like having these guys around.



And I have four of these.



They love me no matter what - imperfections and all.