IN AN IMPERFECT WORLD


Jeremiah 31:2-3 (MSG)

 This is the way God put it:

 "They found grace out in the desert, these people who                        survived the killing.
Israel, out looking for a place to rest, met God out looking for             them!"

God told them, "I've never quit loving you and never will.
            Expect love, love, and more love!


I have decided to not expect perfection in an imperfect world inhabited by imperfect human beings. As a recovering perfectionist, I also acknowledge that I am far from perfect.

 If it truly was a perfect world, I would be at least five inches taller because I am obviously under height for my weight.

 In a perfect world, I would never lose my keys or my cell phone.  My clothing would always be freshly laundered, pressed and hanging neatly in the closet.  The house and lawn would always be immaculate.  The cat would never shed, and light bulbs would never burn out.

 If everything and everyone (including me) were perfect, every promise I ever made or was made to me would always be kept.  There wouldn't be a person on the planet who wasn't loved and cherished or who would want for food, clothing, clean water and air, shelter, a sustainable income and employment, an education and access to adequate medical care.

 All our government leaders would be wise, making decisions for the common good with attention to the least among us.  There would not be wars, people divided against each other and refugees fleeing for their safety and their freedom.  Slavery and human trafficking would not exist.

Instead there would be peace, justice, tolerance, love, and so much, much more.

 So, we all find ourselves in the desert, a wilderness of imperfections.  Sometimes it seems more like I am trying to slog my way through a twisted jungle created by the complexity of the human condition, the cause and affect relationship of sin and suffering.  This is the imperfect, the broken reality we live in.

 We seek a place of rest, yearn for sanity, pray for wholeness and safety.  It feels like we are living in exile, far from the place our souls dream of.

 In the wilderness of imperfection, of brokenness, heartache and strife, we will find that God is already there looking for us.  God speaks to us saying, "I have never left you.  I've never quit loving you, and I never will.  Expect love, love and more love!"  (Jeremiah 31:3, MSG)

 I  have learned to not expect perfection in an imperfect world inhabited by imperfect human beings. What I  have experienced is that God is present in all the imperfection through His perfect love working for our good, His grace.

 Grace, grace, God's grace.  
      God's love in action in the world and in us, 
          unconditionally, extravagantly and freely given.
              Grace, grace, God's grace,
                    grace upon grace 
                         upon grace 
                             upon grace 
                                 upon grace...
God's grace is ever with us, and it never comes alone.  It brings with it a down pouring of it's many traveling companions:

      JOY          COMFORT           MERCY          HEALING

           DELIVERANCE          FORGIVENESS    
   
     TRUTH          POWER          SALVATION          HOPE
  
          BLESSING           REDEMPTION          MIRACLES

      TRANSFORMATION          GOOD NEWS          PEACE

            FREEDOM         FAITH          STRENGTH    

                  ASSURANCE         COMPASSION                  

     
raining down upon the dessert of our imperfect lives, a cloud burst of love.

I do not expect to find perfection in an imperfect world inhabited by imperfect human beings.  What I have found is God, already there in the dessert of my imperfect life.  I trust God in what He has promised.  In an imperfect world, I expect love, love, and more love.  

 I expect grace.
     
  

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