A Flair for Imperfection

What secret flaws are you hiding? Are there some you're ready to share?

Going to an estate sale recently gave me a window into a different world.  The cocktail glasses, the punch bowl, and the fur wrap for a fancy night out were all evidence of a certain kind of life.  One that involved Entertaining, with a capital E.  There were sandwich plates with an indentation for a punch cup, a kind of mid-day party for women that doesn’t happen anymore.  At least, that I know of – is anyone out there making punch with sherbet, ginger ale and an ice ring?  There were cocktail glasses in all different shapes, and special closets to keep them in. 

There was also a room full of decor for different holidays, ready to display for Halloween, Easter and Christmas.  I admire that kind of holiday energy, since I don’t have much of it, myself. 

Wandering through the rooms of the estate sale, I matched the objects with what I knew of the person.  The estate sale was for my mother’s cousin, who was always a sunny presence in public.  Behind the objects on display was the truth – her life had a huge tragedy that always cast a shadow.   The death of a young child led to other losses, and then her life bent toward to happiness.  

We show the world is only a fraction of the truth.  Not a lie, simply one facet of the bigger picture. 

When I became a pastor, I sopped giving the finger to rude drivers.  Not because I was instantly holy.   I just didn’t want church members to catch me,  and know how flawed and angry I was.  Now, it’s too much work to hide things, really, and you can see it anyway. 

A big chunk of my work as a pastor is the ministry of imperfection.  I’m showing you that my family and I struggle, so it’s ok for yours to be flawed, too.  I’m completely certain about fewer and fewer things, as time goes on, so you don’t have to have all the answers, either.  Any minute now. I’m going to trip over that crack in the sidewalk, so don’t worry about how you look. 

That was true at the estate sale, too.  There was a weird quality to seeing the things that could have stayed hidden.  Holiday decorations still in the package.  Unsent greeting cards.  Shapewear garments.  A table with a crack that never was important enough to fix.  The unfinished nature of our lives was so plain.  We shoppers all got a free gift with purchase: a lesson in how little of life we control, and how much imperfection is visible to everyone. 

What flaws are you sharing with the world?  What would you rather keep hidden? 

Image via Pexels, by Mike Bird.