Yes, why can't I have perfection? My parents managed it. We lived in a very white bungalow that, and I do not exaggerate, was redecorated every year. There were no scratches, bad paint work or damaged furniture anywhere. When I was young and in rebellion of this rather stifling way of living, nothing bothered me. I could live happily in a student house with mould in the bathroom. I once laughed because a housemate was cleaning the floor and I thought what a waste of time. But coming out of my rebellion, I have found that marked walls and ill-fitting blinds do bother me. In our team meeting we were discussing the need for beauty in our lives in order for us to flourish. Beauty, and our ability to discern it, are God-given gifts. Living in a non-perfect world however, I don't have the right to demand perfection in all areas of my life. As a very good friend of mine once said, 'Marie we can't have perfection' and now I believe her. We want it; may be its that inner awareness of the Divine and that at present things are not what they should be. Here and now I must deal with ugliness, even whilst yearning for uninterrupted beauty. This adds to my challenge of living in a country with values different from my own. Even I couldn't have got so much paint on the windows that our local painter achieved. So whilst I can't have perfection, how can I learn to live with imperfection?
Dearest Marie, Yes there are many compromises to be made, when being where the Lord wants us to be. One place I was sent to live in, I had people saying to me “You’re living in …. why would anyone want to live there?” The lounge, in the flat, had been rendered with an outside masonry paint, that had slivers of glass in. I had to warn people not to brush against it!
“The need for beauty in our lives, in order to flourish; beauty, and our ability to discern it, are God-given gifts.” Truly blessed me, as I am now making a new home, with the freedom of being able to create, from a place of not having ha…