It has been a fun filled summer with various rounds of company visiting. We have hosted groups of family and friends for vacations and several social events of cookouts and low country boils. Jimmy and I love to host…..each group brings different activities, from board games around the table to shopping to boogie boarding, but always interesting conversations and lots of laughs.
It was an early morning during one of these visits when I walked from our bedroom into the kitchen area. My eyes immediately went to the smudges and handprints on the porch doors. My first thought was I need to clean the doors right after breakfast before we started the day’s activities. About that time, our sweet niece walked down the hallway. She immediately looked outside and, with awe, she said, “Wow! What a beautiful morning!”
I felt a bit of guilt as I realized she had looked directly past the smudges to see the beauty. She didn’t get stopped by the flaws and imperfections on the glass……she saw the beauty and wonder beyond the imperfections.
How often do we look at someone and get stopped by seeing only their flaws and imperfections? We don’t bother to look past the smudges to see the beauty and wonder within them. Each of us is smudged with emotional scars, bruised feelings, difficult situations, unending grief, painful pasts and even painful present situations, but each of us also contain uniqueness; gifts and talents; the ability to make a difference and contribute; the compacity to love others.
What if we decided to look through the imperfections, instead seeing the beauty within? What if we ignored the flaws, instead seeking out the good? What if we fought the desire to pass judgement, instead deciding to find one positive characteristic? What if we redirected our thinking to believing each of us is “a beautiful morning” capable of new beginnings?
We are each created and knit together by our Heavenly Father. We are each uniquely and wonderfully made…..beauty and wonder….flaws and imperfections. Thankfully, it isn’t our responsibility to “clean up” others……however, as children of God, it is our responsibility to love others……beauty and wonder….flaws and imperfections…….
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. Psalm 139:13-14
Just remember the next time you are ready to grab “windex and paper towels” to scrub off the imperfections of someone else…..They may have already armed themselves in the same way, thinking you need cleaned up, too – lol
