By P Chong                                                                                                      18 November 2011

In Biblical history:

Jacob was a cheater, Peter had a temper,

David had an affair,

Noah got drunk,

Jonah ran from God,

Paul was a murderer,

Gideon was insecure,

Miriam was a gossip,

Mary was a worrier,

Thomas was a doubter,

Sarah was impatient,

Elijah was moody,

Moses stuttered,

Zaccheus was short,

Abraham was old & Lazarus was dead.

Now . . . who’s perfect for thinking that God won’t use you!

These Biblical greats as above-mentioned were not perfect and yet God used them mightily, nor did they have all the abilities & skills. Herein is a lesson to be learned – it’s all a question of availability rather than ability that God seeks.

If God can overlook our imperfectness, who are we not to do likewise? God alone is perfect. He alone can be judgemental about us. Whoever we are we ought to be submissive, obedient, loyal and faithful to our tasks – undertaking them responsibly.

In our personal relationship, we should not be unkind to our own kind. This ironically is the truth in practice . . . we seem to see “perfectness” in others and hate the sight of “imperfectness” in our own kind. We can be so hypocritical appearing to be kind & courteous to others but to our own kind most unkind consciously or otherwise. This is all putting on your “Sunday Best” as in church.

Let me share a story here as an illustration:

“When I was a kid, my mom would prepare special breakfast every now and then. And I remember one night in particular, after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad.

I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don’t remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite! When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologise to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I’ll never forget what he said: “Honey, I love burned biscuits.”

Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, “Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she’s real tired. And besides – a little burnt biscuit never hurt anyone! You know, life is full of imperfect things . . . and imperfect people. I’m not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else. What I’ve learned over the years is that learning to accept each other’s faults – and choosing to celebrate each other’s differences – is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.”

Herein lies the key to life’s happiness . . . learning to accept each other’s faults and laying them at the foot of God, the Perfect One.We could extend this to any relationship . . . husband-wife or father-son/daughter or friendship. Understanding of this basic fundamental key will see us through to a life of happiness.

It follows that you

accept, adapt, adopt & adjust

to all the imperfectness

to steer you on the road to happiness.