Perfectly Blemished

From the time I was a little girl with awkwardly short pigtails and electric pink-rimmed glasses, my mother always spoke a truth to me that I wasn’t fully able to understand until I begin to mature. “People don’t come in perfect,” she’d say (and still does).
    As I’ve grown and learned about life, myself and God, my mother’s words resonate with me more deeply than the year before. Once I embraced the fact that I would never be perfect but should, instead, strive to be whole—personally, spiritually and emotionally—life began to mean more to me. I began to enjoy it, not just exist in it, trying to gain everyone’s approval or live out others’ ideas of what would be perfect for me.
    I can't be who you want me to be, ma'am and sir. I have enough problems walking in who I am intended to be. I'm still learning and trying to get it right, and from what I understand, I probably never will. (Disheartening? Maybe a little. But it's also liberating.) Of course, no one likes to make mistakes, and I'm certainly no different, but I've learned to accept graciousness from myself. I've learned that it's just as important to forgive yourself for transgressions as it is to ask it of the person you offended.  I'm naive enough to believe that when you fall, if you want to keep walking, all you have to do is get back up. You maybe bruised, may even have a limp, but walking is walking, right?
    I now live out loud, unapologetically. This manifests itself in the way I carry myself, dress and interact with others. I’m not perfect and never will be, and neither will the people around me. So I arm myself with compassion and keep in mind something my grandmother would say whenever she met someone who just didn’t get it: “Bless her heart.”

What lesson were you taught about life you now realize is a truism?

nac.

Comments

[KojoC]

REMEMBER THEM…
http://www.youtube.com/kojoman75
This presentation was preformed & created by members of the famed All Black 555th Airborne Regiment, Combat Team Association; at Pioneer Garden in Chicago (Bronzeville) Illinois.
The event took place during a memorial service, for widows of the U.S Army's last all Black Combat Unit, the 24th Infantry Regiment. Association, Illinois Chapter.

Curtis,,, aka "Kojo"
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.myvideos

[Breezy]

Wow! The world would be so boring without the imperfect people that inhabit it. It's hard not to get frustrated, irritated, hurt, disappointed, and just plain mad at times when those imperfect people show their imperfect selves. But isn't God awesome for making us that way! How else would we grow? How else would we be able to challenge ourselves to be less imperfect? Shout out to all my beautifully flawed and loving it people!

[Cristy]

One of the hardest things for me to remember is that God created me to be me, not that other person over there who looks like she has it all together! Of course there are certain principles that apply for everyone to all of life, but I don't think that they necessarily play out the same for everyone, at least not all the time.
I'm enjoying the journey of learning who I am and how God has gifted me. It's been interesting to not so much try to be different, but just be me. I like it.
Thanks for writing this, nac.

[PJ]

Be true to thine own self...This is what came to mind as I read this. More often than not, after a really good conversation with ourselves, and this is needed sometimes, we realize that we are not as comfortable with ourselves as we thought. We then analyze the situation and evaluate ourselves. We even allow others to evaluate us. When it all boils down to it, self, is whom we have to reckon with. This could be scary...but embrace yourself. Others will either embrace or do an about face.