Although I don’t dwell on my imperfections, I have an abundant supply.  One of the many things I am grateful for is that I have people in my life who love me, with my strengths and flaws.  

My closest friends are those who can laugh with me at all my ridiculous habits.  Never making fun of me, but instead they bring humor to my otherwise crazy moments.  

If someone is laughing at me, I simply remove myself from the toxic environment.  Imperfections are all around us, it is how we manage the imperfections that is important.

I was vividly reminded of this by the piece of art I helped develop at a glass blowing workshop I attended with my college roommate.  She knows my imperfections and graciously allows me to be me.  In all the best ways, our friendship is quirky!

She created her glassware first, with the colors of red, black, and white.  Among all that was going on in the class, I saw someone wipe the extra colored glass pellets off the table into a dish using the back of their hand. 

Knowing that the glassware was shaped on that same table, I was pretty sure the next artist would be blessed with a few leftover pellets of red, black, and white.  In my mind, knowing it was a disaster waiting to happen, one of those pellet imperfections was going to be a lasting memory in someone’s piece of art.  

My roommate is an art teacher; she and I both thought this was one of the best workshops we have attended.  It exceeded our expectations, and four days later, I went to the studio to pick up our work.  

The items were gorgeous, my roommates’ tricolored and mine a brilliant red.  As I put the stunning items in the bag, my eye went to a rather large black dot intertwined in the beautiful, brilliant red glass.

Normally this would have made me crazy because it was not perfect and easily could have been prevented.  But this time, I was prepared during class when I saw the colored glass pellets quickly brushed off the table; the “disaster waiting to happen” moment.  This class was not about perfection, but about being perfectly imperfect.   

This experience was a picture of our lives, brilliantly beautiful with a speck of imperfection.  The glass made me smile and laugh, accepting its imperfections just as my friend and I have accepted each other‘s imperfections our whole lives.

My friends don’t judge me.  They don’t laugh at me, they laugh with me.  As we move through life and strive to get closer to Jesus and perfection, I pray that we can accept each other’s imperfections with love, grace, and a good sense of humor.

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