Perfect Imperfections

They say that love is blind, but that isn’t true at all. In fact, love not only sees everything but sees it more clearly. In a way real love has x-ray vision. When a person really loves another then they not only see the other’s faults but they see the beauty behind those flaws.

Did you know that James’ mustache hair grows in white? Or that Josie has a bald spot on her head that is caused by a large birth mark? Or that Jamie has a freakish bump on his right nipple? Or that all my kids have eczema and their toe nails grow into their skin if they’re not cut frequently? Some people would call these attributes “imperfections.” But all I see are lovely little details that the Lord hand-crafted. In other words, they are perfect imperfections.

Here are a few of my favorite family faults:

-James’ obsession with talking about his poop. James loves to give me updates on his bowel movements: when he has them, how big they are, their consistency, color, and smell and whether or not they’re on time. To most people this would be considered flat out disgusting and TMI. But I just laugh. To me this is an indication of our healthy relationship. I love that he feels comfortable enough to communicate about even the most mundane and inappropriate subjects.

-Josie’s huge gap-toothed smile. When someone else looks at Josie they might think about how she is going to need braces to close the large space between her two top teeth. But what I think when I look into her gleaming face is, “Awww, she looks so much like her daddy but she has my smile.”  (For those of you who don’t know, I had the same gap before five years of braces.) Someday when she comes home from school crying because a kid in her class made a joke about her teeth I will be able to comfort her and tell her that I understand because someone made the same joke about me. And when she gets her braces tightened I will take her out for ice cream and make pudding for dinner.

-Jamie’s lack of a vocabulary. According to experts, a two-year-old should have at least 50 words in their vocabulary and be able to say two and three word phrases. Jamie will turn 2 next month and he knows how to say three words- “mama”, “dada”, and “eye”- six if you count the ones he can almost pronounce- “ya” for yes, “bubu” for puppy, and “mo” for more. I don’t want him to be developmentally behind but I don’t really mind either. I know that he is an extremely intelligent little boy and his speech abilities will catch up in due time. I like that I can understand him more than anyone else in the world. His baby babble comforts me in knowing that my little boy isn’t grown up yet and still needs his mommy.

-Johnny’s poor sleep patterns. When Johnny was a newborn he was the worst self-soother on earth. He seemed to need constant physical contact, night and day. Now that he’s older he seems to instinctively know when his brother and sister are sleeping and has decided to make those his awake times, thus eliminating the possibility of naps for me. It is easy to become frustrated with these patterns, especially since sleep deprivation is my leading cause of grumpiness. I complain, but I secretly love it. I cherish the excuse to cuddle my baby longer, to let him sleep on my chest, and to rock him for hours. And I treasure the time I get to spend with him one-on-one while the other kids are sleeping.

So I suppose that the point I am trying to make is that a family should be best at seeing each other through God’s eyes. We see each fault as the beautiful, God-given, perfect imperfections that they are.

An imperfect family photo

(Pictures are from a friend's birthday party that we attended on Saturday)