Photo by Matt Perkins on Unsplash
There it was! Gone! Though I checked it over and hacked my word creation with my pencil machete, slashing mercilessly through the clutter and confusion to make it crisp and clear, it wasn't enough. Simultaneously I pressed send and noticed a glaring mistake. Click. Whoosh. It disappeared. My eyes popped open wide and my jaw slung low. If I was a cartoon character my jaw would have been dragging on the floor. There was no way to retrieve it. My word baby was out there surfing around in cyber space, hanging ten on the waves of search engines and social media. No amount of clicking on that mouse was going to bring my baby back to correct the error. Sigh. HEAVY sigh.
I love to write, don't you? When I am in composition mode I am in my happy place. But once I have finished writing and I read those words over, ugh. It's not pretty. In fact, it can be downright ugly. But then comes my next favourite part. The edit. When I first began writing and was clinging to my words like a ship-wrecked man to a life raft, I dreaded the edit. But after seeing the results produced by clearing away the debris I was astounded. The globby mess was transformed into a clear, precise, clean copy. Turning a phrase just so, finding the perfect word, removing entire paragraphs, filling in some details and deleting others became a joy. Hard work but a joy nonetheless. We strive for excellence because isn't that what we should do as Christian writers? Yet, errors still happen. I am part of a writing team. Me and my Father, God and me. Actually, there are four of us, Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit and little ol' me. That's why I get upset about the mistakes. I feel like I am letting down the team. But am I?
I've recently taken up quilting. This is a miracle because I hate sewing. Seriously, when I told my son I had taken up quilting there was a long pause in the conversation followed by, "You know that involves sewing right?" I don't know why but I really enjoy quilting. Weird. One of the things I have learned from the fabulous ladies who are teaching and mentoring the beginners is a lesson learned from the Amish. Those folks are known for their excellent craftsmanship whether it be a quilt or a table or anything they build. Yet, while they too strive for excellence, they also acknowledge and accept any flaws or imperfections and do so because they know that God alone is perfect.
The Japanese philosophy of Wabi Sabi values imperfections. This philosophy accepts imperfections in ourselves and in the world around us. It finds beauty in the weathered and the rustic as well as in imperfection. A Japanese art form called Kintsugi embraces the Wabi Sabi philosophy. It is the art of repairing broken pottery by mending the cracks and breaks with powdered gold, silver or platinum. It treats the breakage as part of the life of an object, part of its story. While we might fill a break with crazy glue, hoping to hide it, they fill it with a substance that honours the crack, revealing it as part of the vessel's history.
While I was considering this art form, I recalled the lyrics of Leonard Cohen's song, "Anthem" about light getting in cracks and a light bulb appeared over my head. Aha! As part of the writing team, my job is to get the words down on paper and pray they are inspired by God. Even though I strive for excellence I still make mistakes. I need to accept my imperfections and cracks and let God fill them with the gold, silver or platinum of His Spirit to reach whomever He wants. It is His filling and anointing which makes the work of any worth or value.
May we be encouraged to accept and have faith to know, when we have done our best there may still be flaws but God will fill our cracks, because that's how His light gets in.
"But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you,
for My power is made perfect in weakness."
2 Corinthians 12:9a NIV
