It may be another week but it’s still the perfect day to continue my perfection series.
Do you know anyone who is perfect? See, proves my point. All perfect people are alone. And all who pretend to be perfect, they end up alone too. Maybe not physically alone, but emotionally and socially they quite likely will be. This will be especially true if they combine their perfection with judgment.
But wasn’t Jesus perfect? Personally I don’t think he was. I think he had imperfect reactions at times. For example, I think he was often annoyed and impatient with his followers (including his mother) instead of being understanding and patient. Realistically, I think he might have been grumpy and short with people if he was too hungry. He seems to have been harsh and a bit mean to whole groups of religious folks (the pharisees come to mind). He certainly was inconsiderate to his parents when he stayed behind in the temple when he should have been with them on the journey home. I think of Jesus as one who moved towards perfection much faster and with more courage than others (especially me) but I don’t think he was perfect.
Are you perfect? Or perhaps you just play a perfect person in real life? Either way you are probably much more alone than you wish to be. It’s not fun being #1 and alone. I bet you will find a lot of loving people ready to support and help you when you allow your honest, imperfect self to show through.
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Drawing, quote and commentary by Marty Coleman, who humbly submits that he has perfected the art of being imperfect.
This was cool Marty. Tweeting the last line and following you.
Jesus was perfect. As someone wrote, sometimes he didn’t act perfect, by the human standard, He died to save unperfect people from their sins, so they could repent. Good Morning, Marty.
Marty, that was just perfect!
In my work with families of young children
“Perfection is my enemy”
Has become quite a mantra. We are making toys and I know that people cna get so caught up in having a certain detail “right” that they will just get stuck forever on one small element of a bigger project. Worse, they can get so caught up in perfectionism that they will toss out their work and start over igniring the value of what they had done so far … worst of all, they get so stuck in their perfectionism that they don’t even give themselves to the project, they never find the right environment or mood to do it and they just abandon it altogether. Of course I take this from my own life experience, the things I have done or not done in pursuit of the impossible perfectionism. I use it for toymaking but I find it a great parenting lesson, too. Perfectionism will kill you as a parent – and it will make your kids nuts, too.
Although I agree with almost everything you said I know that Jesus *was* perfect. What I think you are getting at is that he didn’t act like he was perfect and I’ll agree with that. And as for getting testy with the money changers in the temple or the Pharisees … well he was just trying to communicate with them on a level that would be effective.
To accept the impossibility of perfection for humans and the truth that Jesus himself was perfect (worthy is the Lamb that was slain) is core to the Christian message. In fact, I get that line, “Perfection is my enemy” from a Christian pop song “Free to be Me” by Francesca Battistelli. Although she’s pretty young yet she seems to have great insight into humanity, faith and living in freedom. If only I’d known in my 20s what I know now … but then, that would be striving for perfectionism …
Thanks for another great napkin, Marty.