Perfect Imperfections

Have you ever had one of those days when you thought to yourself, "Man, I'm lookin' pretty good today?" It's a good hair day. The makeup looks pretty youthful and natural all at the same time---which is increasingly harder the older I get! You think that the shirt you wore just a few weeks ago now seems to fit a bit more loosely. You're ready to walk out the door, ready to face the world with a smile on, excited about what the day ahead holds for you.

I had one of those yesterday!

I have had a wonderful few days. Took Friday off and enjoyed some basketball, some reading and listening to show tunes, had a great lunch with my pastor. Excited about some things to come. Saturday was a fantastic day...women's retreat with some ladies who have truly become "sister friends". (NOT to be confused with sister wives....they're all welcomed to their husbands....Mormons, we are not!)

Sunday morning started off great! Hair looking good, makeup in check, wearing a cool tan crocheted number with some smaller-sized jeans. You know? Just one of those good days where I was excited to head off to worship, then to the Theatre for a production that was "paying tribute" to the amazing Veterans of Cabarrus County. In for a great day....feeling pretty good about myself!

It was chillier than I had planned for, so I went back into the house and changed into the pink sparkly shirt from a tan number I had chosen. Put some more appropriate jewelry on with the outfit. Grabbed some hot pink lipstick...smashing!! Headed back out the door and on my way to church....again, feeling pretty good about myself!

"Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.". 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Well, I'm driving in, singing my lungs out, when all of a sudden, I notice them....my fingernails!! Now for those of you who know me well, you'll probably chuckle, because I rarely HAVE nice fingernails, but lately, I've been trying to let them grow out. They were ORANGE and, worse than that, CHIPPED...BADLY!! Please remember, I'm wearing a hot pink shirt. Talk about a serious clash issue!

What do you do when the details don't match up to the big picture? I could have turned around and gone home and painted over my nails, but that would have made me late. I could have gotten angry at my failure to pay attention to the details. I could have worried that the man of my dreams was going to be at church or the Theatre that day, and I wouldn't have been looking my best. I COULD have done those things, or I could choose the best thing.

So, I did. I laughed. Hard. Loud. 'Til I got tears in my eyes. I realized I was dealing with a perfect imperfection. Just that morning, my devotion was Ecclesiastes 3:11, "He has made all things beautiful in His time." Not just some things, but ALL things...even my poorly colored fingernails.

The next time you're confronted with one of life's little "perfect imperfections", take some time to think about how God can use the hardships, trials, imperfections and weaknesses in our lives to show us that we can get too caught up in the details and miss the big picture that He's trying to show us.

What did I learn from my encounter with a perfect imperfection? Well, I certainly don't need to take myself so seriously. I also don't need to put so much focus on the way I look (don't read this as my giving license to run around looking like John the Baptist). I also enjoyed the day yesterday, once I got over myself and thinking about all that was coming up. I stayed "present" in the day....worship at church was powerful. The Theatre presentation was humbling and inspiring at the same time. My Tar Heels won!! (Thanks John for ruining it for me...LOL) And God probably got a great chuckle out of one of His princesses!

The picture is of my long-time friend, Ali, from elementary school through until today. I hadn't seen her in many years, so it was wonderful to catch up. Her Dad was one of the Vets who had his story told during "Paying Tribute". I'm proud to be an American...and proud to say "THANK YOU" to all our Veterans!