Love and Imperfection

[MIRIAM JACOB]

Love and Imperfection


The World, dangling perfection barely out of reach

Says, “You must have it, at a price!

Or you will not be loved!

Glossed beauties famed in the art of wrapping

Not a thought for the damaged contents

Rattling in their brokenness

And gloating lenses pry the staggering moments

And frame triumphantly excesses of their pain.



But where love exists, each flaw, each imperfection

Blends to a fascinating whole,

Proclaims uniqueness, and the marks

Are loved more for their separation from the commonplace.

They are celebrated, kissed into loveliness.

Each line, that traces painful journeys;

Each gap in knowing, each regretful sigh,

Calls forth more love, for more is needed.



And so it is- and how God loves us.

The more imperfect love him more

For knowing He had more to save and,

twisted on the agonies of thorn and nail-

No greater love to show how perfect imperfection is.



© Pauline Griffiths

[MIRIAM JACOB]

"Love and Imperfection" came about when I was thinking about how the world thinks more and more of outer "perfection" and it's becoming harder for women to achieve as it takes money- but a lot of the celebrities who are admired for physical perfection are also tormented inside, and the same press that glorifies the pursuit of glamour like theirs, also delights in gloating when things go wrong for them. But "love is blind"- and I've compared that to the way Jesus loves us in spite of everything- and I've made a reference to the woman who fell at his feet, weeping- and He said he told the story of the two debtors to show that those who are forgiven more, love more.
It may be a strange ending- but I don't mean that imperfection IS perfect- that we can get away with being imperfect because God loves us- because I KNOW that loving Jesus means wanting to live in a way that pleases God. The last line is about aknowledging imperfections as being a perfect way to receive Jesus. The self-righteous can't receive Him until they realise that ALL have sinned and are imperfect. I always loved the story of the Lost Sheep- and the references to Jesus as The Good Shepherd.


© Pauline Griffiths