Perfect....imperfections

Fall! I can smell it in the air. When the aroma of rain sprinkled earth, mingles with the scent of the pine trees and woodsmoke, it becomes known as the essence of autumn. Ahhh....I just love this time of year. Watching, as the wind picks up speed, sending the leaves scurrying to the ground. The vibrant colors of yellow, deep orange and red, mixed together with the evergreens and nature's contrast becomes a feast for the eyes!

As leaves fall to the ground, they make messes, but only if we view them as that. For some people, fall might seem like the worst time of year, leaves to mow and bag, because it doesn't go with the I've-got-the-perfect-yard-image. Some people, like the look of manicured lawns, devoid of weeds, leaves, hedges trimmed, etc. But out in the forest, man isn't around to interfere with an already perfect system of doing things. As the leaves fall, covering the ground, they begin to decompose, and fertilize the earth. We try to make nature all nice and tidy but it isn't. And that is the beauty of it. When taking a walk through the autumn trees, watching a river bubble ferociously with too much rain, crunching the pine needles underfoot, there is beauty in it all, but it's because of all the imperfections!

While listening to a speaker the other day, talk about carving pumpkins, he said he looks for the imperfections of the squash. He then makes the carving center around the imperfections, which makes it a beautiful piece of art. Wow!

This is so true in the realm of nature and also in our lives. Imperfection becomes perfection. What we we think is imperfection, leaves falling in a lazy haphazard pattern, becomes beautiful perfection. Why? Because the Creator created it that way! He uses the beauty of the changing seasons, with this wild display of color and texture to get us see the bigger picture.

We try to make our lives all nice and perfect but deep down, we all know that they aren't. We carry around scars, whether physical, emotional or mental and try to cover them up so that we can appear to have the perfect life. However, when God looks at us, He clearly sees our imperfections (scars and all!), and knows exactly how He can make a beautiful design using them. Letting others see our weaknesses, our failures, and our imperfections is letting them see the Creator at work in our lives. Our perfect God does an amazing job of making our imperfections beautiful to Him. It is only His view of the final picture of our lives that matters!

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven; a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 ESV (emphasis mine)