Tag: beauty

PERFECTION: The Insatiable Corpse … II

03.12.2018

Author katiem

The greatest botch story that continues to be written, is that of a megacosm pursuing the corpse of perfection. In this pursuit, scars are created in places where there were previously no scars, and holes dug in places where there were previously no holes until there is nothing to dig into but the void. And the voidness reverberates the sound of the unattained and insatiable pursuit of perfection.

These man-made scars and holes become the breeding ground for concoctions of confusion, identity crisis, and despondency. What if in the pursuit of perfection we discerned that perfection is imperfection, just as the nail and pierced scars of Jesus illuminate His perfect imperfection (John 20:19–29)?

Through mankind’s pursuit for physical perfection, the discovery of cosmetic surgery is much acclaimed, but if the surgery is used to conceal our voidness, then the surgery is akin to a band-aid on a broken arm. Like that band-aid on a broken arm, a covering of a broken soul will never appease the aliment it covers. And so in this pursuit of complete perfection, it becomes the pursuit of psychosis; having attained perfection and yet still pursuing the perfect illusion.

Sometimes the pursuit of perfection is a disguise for insecurity… the feeling of never being good enough and always coveting to be like someone, or something else. We have the right to do as we will, but if the pursuit is impelled by the need to disguise an insecurity, we should remember that we are exactly what God created us to be – wonderfully and fearfully made, known, perfectly formed and set apart before we were even formed in the womb of our mothers (Psalm 139; Jeremiah 5:1).

 

We were made without defect and error and made perfectly imperfect. In our pursuit for complete perfection, the pursuit becomes a magnifying mirror for all imperfection. And we end up unsatisfied with that which we would have been satisfied with, but for the magnifying glass. In pursuing perfection, we end up with half-baked and shattered dreams because our focus is on the flaws and challenges instead of on the possibilities and outcomes.

Jesus retained His scars to comfort us and give us confidence and peace in the knowledge that imperfection is perfection. Thus when He appeared before the disciples following His resurrection, the first thing He said to them was “peace be with you,” and immediately He showed them His scars (John 20:19). The scars were used to assure the disciples of His authenticity and to transfuse boldness within them to carry out the tasks ahead.

Sometimes our scars are the emblem of our authenticity – for the journey that we have travelled and the challenges we have overcome. The scars become our victory spoils and apparatuses that connect us to others that have scars, and to encourage those that still suffer from fresh wounds.

It is no coincidence that the first words of Jesus to the disciples spoke of peace and immediately followed by the display of His scars. I believe Jesus did this so that we could receive the revelation of the beauty of His perfect imperfections, and once we understand this, we too will have peace and a greater appreciation for the perfect imperfections of life.

©Katie Mliswa and MomentsbyKatie.M, 2018.

PERFECTION: The Insatiable Corpse …I

Author katiem

It butchers bodies and strangles souls. Embezzles time and disintegrates families. Swindles dreams and advances procrastination. Inculcates fear and sedates productivity. Inoculates stress and distorts objectives. This is the pursuit of perfection… the pursuit of a faultless and unblemished state, free from defect and error. Or rather, the pursuit of the unicorn; the illusion of a perfect and peaceful phantom beast.

In this pursuit, a mass is created, analogous to a robot prototype, simulating the perfect apotheosis, yet is devoid of expression. It has us chasing a mirage, only to come up empty, and then chase again in litany, until time and breath fade… such is this pursuit. But the question remains, what is perfection? And why do we feel obliged to strive for it?

For the longest time, I hated scars. And eminently, I hated the visible scars of Jesus – the nail marks in His hands and pierce marks on His side (John 20:19–29). Why I thought to myself, should God leave Jesus with scars when God is omnipotent? Surely He could have given Jesus a new and perfect body, and perhaps even one made of gold! Why would He not do this when we, as mere mortal beings, are promised new and heavenly bodies as described in Revelation 21:1–5 and 2 Corinthians 5:1–5:

For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is destroyed (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God Himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing… we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life … (2 Corinthians 5:1–5).

 

The question plagued me until I finally got the revelation of the John 20:19–29. When I received this revelation, I began to grasp the veracious meanings of perfection. Sometimes perfection is imperfection. That which should be ugly, but for the alluring tale told by the scars of imperfection, is rendered perfectly imperfect. The alluring tales of the scars of the perfect imperfection is such that:

 Once was a Man that loved and freely gave His life to save those that did not love Him, now the scars of His sacrifice corroborate to tell of His endless love, in ways in which words never could equate.
 Because of the skeletons of our past, we should not ‘be’, (here, where we are, doing what we are doing, achieving what we are achieving, etc.) but the scars from our past certify our determination and the grace of God in ways in which words of our testimony could never parallel.
 Our work and words may not be conventional, but their unconventional scars speak a poetry to which convention never could.
 I should be like you, but the scars of my quirkiness tell of a brand that cannot be replicated.

Sometimes, true perfection is simply blemished perfection. Whether we seek perfection in our home, profession, social, or love life – we should know that sometimes, true perfection is the miracle of imperfection.

©Katie Mliswa and MomentsbyKatie.M, 2018.