When first buds emerge in spring as birds trumpet
sun’s arrival, there is perfection in every bloom. Sublime

petals shaped, symmetry in the artist’s eye. Impossible
pinks glow with blush, sincere awakening to new birth.

I wonder could anything be more precisely crafted? I, too,
am flawless. Just as the blossom has no hand in its

genesis, I must flourish for I am made perfect in His eye.
The only one who is me, sublime by His hand fashioned.

It is not a burden to take up, this road to perfect being.
I need not fret about precision. To know His genius in

all others releases encumbrance from my ego. He fixed
sun and moon, stars and earth for each of His beloved.
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Author’s Note:

I needn’t strive for what was once my definition of perfect.

Several weeks ago Fr. Scott Jenkins, from A Church of the Holy Family ECC, shared with us in his homily about the word perfection and it’s meaning to us. He reminded us that too many times in today’s world we have the wrong notion about God’s expectation for us.

Through my childhood religious upbringing, I always thought that perfection was expected of me and I was never to make mistakes.  And if I made mistakes then I was not worthy in God’s eye and because I was born with sin, how could I ever…oh, what a vicious cycle I lived with most of my life.

Thank goodness I see things from a different perspective now. I am truly grateful to have found a voice that reminds me I have been given this beautiful world to enjoy and gifts to share. Of course I am going to make mistakes. I just need to be who I was created to be, and that is a loving being  sharing what I have been given just like my Creator.

Today’s gospel reading reinforces this. This is taken from The Message/Remix, the Bible in Contemporary Language by Eugene H. Peterson, Matthew 5:38-42. I particularly love the last line.

 “…When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best–the sun to warm and the rain to nourish – to everyone, regardless; the good and the bad, the nice and the nasty…You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Love generously and graciously towards others, the way God lives toward you.”