There’s a song that says, “There’s a crack in everything/That’s how the light gets in.” We all have problems and imperfections, but they do not have to define us. Here are three ways you can take the cracks in your life and see the light of God shining through them:
- Start by remembering you’re not alone. God’s working with what he has to hand—original sin pretty much guarantees us imperfections (at the very least!) and Scripture gives us a long parade of less-than-stellar people. But God loved all of us and reaches all of us, and we learn humility through our mistakes and imperfections.
- Imperfection is a call to practice compassion on yourself. Theologian and mystic Meister Eckhart wrote, “To get at the core of God at his greatest, one must first get into the core of himself at his least.” Let it point you to God who comes through that mistake to embrace you and love you.
- It’s an antidote to perfectionism, our goal of appearing “together” in every setting (so we don’t take on difficult tasks or take risks for fear of failing; we take the blame for everything; we refuse to ever own up to mistakes, blaming other people for what went wrong, etc.). We let God’s light in when we accept our imperfections and consider our actions and thoughts prayerfully.
We are all imperfect at best; Adam and Eve saw to that. But if you ever feel you aren’t worthy enough, remember—Jesus used a lot of flawed people to share hope to a flawed world. It’s time to share that hope now, however imperfectly!
