Perfectly Imperfect

Perfectly Imperfect

Nick Vujicic has travelled to more than forty countries spreading a message of hope and love to millions of people. He has gone to prisons, hospitals, Churches, and schools with his inspiring message, a message that has helped to change countless lives (See his website, http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/about-life-without-limbs/). He is the founder of Life Without Limbs Ministry.  Nick was born with a medical condition that has left him without arms or legs. Nick Vujicic has travelled to around the world without arms or legs, spreading a message of hope and love.  He has taken what the world might call a limitation and has turned it into a purpose-driven life; AND He glorifies God through it by spreading the love of Jesus throughout the world!  This is the work of God using “an imperfection” to fulfill His Will in one of His willing children.  He wants to do the same with us!

I’m sure that each of us has in some point in our lives dwelt on our own inadequacies and imperfections.  I’m sure we’ve allowed them to prevent us from doing great things with our lives or allowed them to make us doubt we could.  I know I do. God doesn’t worry about this.  All He really wants from us is to love Him, our families, and our neighbors and for our actions to be motivated by this love. His Love can turn what little things we might do into great things as long as we’ve put great love into them.  The Mass readings from this past Sunday tell us that God has in fact made room for our imperfections in His plan for our lives.  To quote St. Francis DeSales, “Do no lose courage in considering your own imperfections.”

The Gospel reading is from the Parable of the Weeds among the Wheat.  When the land owner is asked by the workers about whether to pull the weeds that surround the wheat in the garden, he responds, “No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them.”  This response represents the gentleness of God and His willingness to work with our imperfections (especially our sins) to bring forth great fruits in our lives.  A verse from Sunday’s first reading reassures us of this: “For your might is the source of justice; your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all.”  He is patient with us and does not worry about anything that we might be lacking because His grace makes up a hundredfold for it. 

In addition to His patience, God gives us everything we need to do His Will.  Prayer is our way of reaching Him when we need help.  It is also His way of revealing His Will to us.  He responds to prayer through the Holy Spirit.  Sunday’s second reading says, “The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.” God knows we need His help to be faithful to Him and helps us through the Holy Spirit.  He also uses another important source of whom I am reminded in Sunday’s Gospel reading.  It reads, “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.”  This woman reminds me of the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus.  She is the spouse of the Holy Spirit and is therefore a very important source of assistance in our lives.  While she is not the source of salvation like God (who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), she is very close to Jesus and through her great prayers helps us come closer to Him.  She helps guide us in His ways and points us to her Son.  As any mother would hold her child, Mary holds her Son in her heart and it is from there that she brought Him into the world.  This fact is the inspiration for the name of this blog.  We can and should ask for her prayers in helping us to remain faithful to her Son and better imitate His life. 

            Yes, we all have shortcomings, limitations, and weaknesses.  They are no match for the power of God’s grace and I think this means that we don’t have to worry about them as much.  This sounds much easier than it is to practice it. I still struggle to practice it.  This is one reason I wrote this post.  I hope we can work together to overcome this belief by praying for one another and helping each other to remember this whenever possible.  I would like to close this post with a quote from Nick Vujicic:   “…{F}or God took my life, one that others might disregard as not having any significance and He has filled me with His purpose and showed me His plans to use me to move hearts and lives toward Him.”  By working for it a little every day we can come to know His purpose and with the help of His grace we can fulfill it! Our limitations and imperfections are no match for Him!