[StBernard] The imperfect life...

[Westley Annis]

Someone sent it to me and thought I'd pass it along.
 
JY


There's beauty in living the imperfect life

Saturday, May 20, 2006
Early Tuesday morning I walked my dog and thought about how I'd overcooked
some hamburgers several hours earlier. 
They were still good, I thought -- though since it was the first burger I've
eaten in more than a decade, I'm hardly a connoisseur -- but next time I'll
take them off the grill sooner. 
A few minutes earlier, they would have been perfect. 
This time? Well, as I said, they were good. Just not perfect. 
As I walked through that quiet morning, I was glad for that. 
Because I suddenly realized something: Perfect is boring. 
Think of your favorite moments, your funniest stories, your most meaningful
hours: I'm guessing they're not perfect. Furthermore, I'd surmise that
whatever wrinkled your plans provided the most memorable part. 
We rip our hair out and give ourselves ulcers seeking perfection, and for
what? 
Something no one will remember, including ourselves. 
On the other hand, when things don't go just the way we've hoped or planned
and sometimes even prayed, we usually experience something pretty memorable.

When my sister and I were growing up, my English-teacher mom had a typical
response to such occasions: This, she would tell us in the midst of whatever
chaos was engulfing us, will make a great theme. 
She was right. Those events often did find their ways into our homework
assignments. 
Imperfect moments aren't always great, of course. They may break your heart
or cause pain you don't think you can survive. Death, betrayal, illness --
these are not events to rationalize in the name of lessons learned. 
All too often, horrible things happen. 
And while yes, we sometimes do discover something valuable in their
aftermath, I can't imagine there's any lesson worth such horrors as the
Holocaust, the genocide in Sudan or the abuse of a child on our own shores. 
Most of us, thank goodness, don't suffer such atrocities. 
But rather than focusing our attention on those who really need our help or
giving thanks for our blessings, we bemoan the less-than-perfect moments of
our lives as if they were genuine disasters. 
I'm as guilty of this as anyone. 
So it was strange for me the other morning to realize how pleased I was by
my imperfect -- but good -- burgers. Odder still was it for me to consider
just how dull perfection can be. 
Then I thought about the passage in Genesis in which God declares creation
good. Not perfect, but good. 
I don't note the difference to imply that I think God made some mistakes in
the midst of all the parting of light from darkness and water from dry land,
etc., etc. 
But on a cool, still morning, I recognized that the value celebrated in
Genesis was that the work was good, not that it was flawless. 
Goodness doesn't require the rigidity of perfection. 
Goodness is an amalgam of hope and love, vision and truth. It is not an end
unto itself. When something is good, you savor it and anticipate what may
come with joy and a sense of unbounded possibility. 
I don't know when I'll grill burgers again. Probably soon. They were good. 
 
(Kristen Campbell is the religion editor for the Press-Register. You may
call her at 219-5680 or send her e-mail at kcampbell at press-register.com.) 

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