Perfection is not the point

Photo credit to *Arielle* via photopin cc

“I have always been mesmerized with Mosaic Tiles and God really used that recently to remind me that just as I see their beauty, order in the chaos, the masterpiece out of brokenness, that maybe that is the puzzle of my life God is putting together. It’s not a nice jigsaw, where everything is pieced together just perfectly. But the beauty in the brokenness has a careful artist who has taken time to put together the small details of the chaos, pay attention to things that seem insignificant, and create a work of art that tells a story not just in it’s existence, but in it’s creation as well.”

Brokenness breaks us from the need to be right. Ann Voskamp

Words from a 2007 version of myself.  At 26, I thought I knew so much.  But I’m still asking myself those questions today.  Where is the order in chaos?  Why can the pieces not fit in easier? It seems so easy at times and so difficult simultaneously (is that even possible)?

In 2005, I ventured to NYC over spring break.  By myself.  It was a wild adventure of a trip.  I flew into Newark, was picked up by some folks at a church I was connected with and spent a few days in Brooklyn there and then had no plans.

Yes, you read me right.  This planner of a girl went to NYC with 1 suitcase.  No hotel reservations and no plans.

Wherever HE can be glorified, that’s where I want to be. Annie Downs

And I was in my last semester of grad school on a tight budget without a job post-graduation.

Who WAS I at this point in my life?

Embrace who you were made to be. Stephanie Bryant

After staying with some folks from the church, connecting whit a friend and getting a steal of a hotel in Manhattan (this new website called hotels.com), I loaded my super heavy suitcase (I never hinted I was a light packer, I just had one, EXTRA large suitcase) onto the subway and headed toward Grand Central.  I had a cheap hotel room.  I could eat light.  But what would I do in the meantime?  Head to Central Park and journal?  Check.  Get a NYC sweatshirt (that I’m currently wearing and is my absolute favorite) in Chinatown and journal at a Starbucks?  Check. Eat lunch at a cute little cafe? Check.  And what about the other 37 hours before my flight out of JKF?

The United Nations Tour.

I was always told it was amazing and a must see.  I could not agree more, even if the ticket price of $7 was more than I wanted to pay at the time.  I never knew until the tour that when you enter the U.N. you are leaving American soil and heading onto neutral ground of all the countries making up the U.N.  So cool! The tour was amazing. But my favorite part?  Seeing all the gifts from the differing countries to the U.N. Each country gives a gift signifying their thanks to the U.N.  They ranged in size and significance.

I was not prepared.

I was not prepared to walk around the corner and see the life-changing piece of Art.  Norman Rockwell’s mosaic of The Golden Rule was given to the U.N. in 1985 by Nancy Reagan.  Not only was it beautiful, but it was huge.  I mean, huge.

Photo credit to modulor via photopin cc

Alligator tears immediately started flowing down my cheeks.  The inscription, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Moved me like none other.  Seeing the faces, the colors and the difference in the brokenness shook me to the core.

Perfection is NOT the point.  We wouldn’t need grace if that weren’t the case. Lara Williams

But what really got me was the magnitude of this message.  Literal magnitude.  It was bigger than life size.

Quit trying to fit. Stop squeezing your extraordinary into ordinary. Ann Voskamp

So what is God wanting to do again?  Take my little broken mess of a life and make it into something that is bigger than life size?  I’m thinking God is onto something here.

People do not want perfection, but stories. Tsh Oxenreider

{This is post #4 in my reflections from Allume 2012.  Click here to visit the rest of the series.}