Forbidden fruit tastes sweetest… everything we know we aren’t meant to do come so easy…one would say it’s like our 2^nd nature. Last Sunday in church my Passie was preaching about parents raising their children and especially dealt with the fathers…maybe because next Sunday is father’s day…but I digress. Anyway immediately he started preaching, my 1^st reaction was to switch off since am not yet a parent. In my head I figured, I will listen to this sermon in like three or four years. And it’s like he read my mind coz he said, “I know a majority of you may want to switch off since it’s the youth service, but I urge you to listen, you may not be a parent now, or are done with parenting, but somehow you’ll need this.” I therefore decided to listen and even take notes. They may come in handy in the not-so-distant future! So he went on with his preaching but what really struck me the most is one thing, as young people we may be more educated than our parents, even have better jobs than them but they have one thing that we don’t, and that is, EXPERIENCE! I know a majority of us have heard this word before and even heard that sermon of ‘experience’ but last Sunday it really did strike me. Our parents have the one thing no school can teach us. They have the one thing that God has blessed them with by giving them the many years they’ve lived. 

You know how they say God works in mysterious ways, well He came through that very Sunday in a very mysterious way. After having such a wonderful time in church, I went home. There is some house hold chore that I was meant to do and I hadn’t done. So immediately I get to the house, my mum starts quarreling me coz of not doing it. The whole time I nearly wanted to lash out at her. I mean, it wasn’t my fault plus, I was going to do them anyway! So she went on and on about how that was irresponsible and even gave me a lash out on behalf of my sister since she wasn’t physically there. I came so close to lashing out but thankfully God held my tongue. Then God reminded me of what I had learnt in church. As much as I would have wanted to say that my mum was wrong, I remembered that maybe she was just teaching me about the future, of how to take care of my own house in the future. And I remembered my Passie’s words, she’s got Experience! She’s been married for 25 years, chances are, she knows things here and there that no school on this planet will ever teach me. 

So I’ve decided that I will listen to my parents and heed their words. Even the Bible likes children who obey, Ephesians 6:1-3 says  “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: ³ “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”   

Sometimes I may not agree with them but I will not disobey! I will heed the words of The Good Book and as I sign off, I’ll leave you with an interesting excerpt I once came across.

I was RAISED!! I didn’t just grow up.

 I was raised!! I didn’t just grow up. I was taught to speak when I enter a room, say please & thank you, to have respect for my elders, to get up off my lazy butt and let the elder in the room have my chair, lend a helping hand to those in need, hold the door for the person behind me, say excuse me when it’s needed, & to love people for who they are, not for what I can get from them! I was also taught to treat people the way I want to be treated

Perfectly imperfect...

Even the best needles are not sharp at both ends.(Chinese Proverb)

 Many are the times we try to hide our pain, our heartache, our challenges, our faults, our mistakes, our disappointments. And it’s natural to do so. We are taught never to air our dirty laundry in public. We are taught to stay strong. To pick ourselves up when we fall. We are taught never to show the world our weaknesses. We are taught how to put up a brave face in the face of adversity. We are taught to keep it all inside.

It’s just how the world operates. Who in their right mind would spend a fortune of their hard earned money (even if your parents worked for it) to buy something faulty. Imagine buying a spoon without a handle. Or buying a shoe with half a sole. Imagine spending a fortune on a watch that couldn’t tell time. Or an umbrella that leaks in rain instead of protecting you from rain. Naturally we throw away such things. We don’t even give them a second glance…but then again, even a dead clock is right twice a day.

A story is told of a certain 16 year old girl. At 16 our biggest concern is whether we fit in. do we fit in with the popular kids, the geeks, the sports people, the fashonistas, the drama queens, the rich kids? Where exactly do we fall…but that was not the case for this 16 year old kid. While her friends were busy idolizing musicians, for half her year, she was busy being forced to eat healthy, taking medication and trying to get better. For 30 days she spent in a hospital and a majority of the time she was in pain...she got surgical scars out of that ordeal. And though at that time she never wanted anyone to see her scars, now 9 years later, she can proudly show them off. Reason being, they have healed.

Our imperfections are what makes us who we are…that small toe that we want to hide, that forehead we cover up with our hair, the uneven skin tone, those skinny legs, and even the scars we bear from certain injuries in our life. Our imperfections are what make us stand out. And the best part about the scars we bear is that, they all carry something positive. A scar means that the process is complete. That the wound is finally healed and that the pain is no longer there.  It  shows that  we’ve gone through the process of healing and that we can now look back and not have a heavy heart. We can now talk about the situation and in some cases even laugh about it.

All wounds eventually dry up. They eventually heal. It might be painful now, it might be scary but eventually it all gets better.  They say God can heal our broken hearts, but we have to give Him all the pieces. Don’t  hold on to that one piece in the hope that something may change because some situations are like broken glass, it’s better to leave them broken than hurt ourselves even more when trying to put it all together. God is the healer of all things but it doesn’t happen overnight, He requires time…give God time. Everything ends up okay in the end; if it doesn’t end up okay then it’s not the end. 

You can choose to perceive things differently. You can focus on what’s wrong or in this case imperfect, or you can focus on what’s right. You can choose to create the world you want, because you can. there is always a kind of beauty in imperfection. if its something you can change, then change it, if not, stop obsessing over it! Smile at your imperfections, they are just a small yet very important part of your story.