This blog post is the result of some serious accountability from several friends and the stakes are high! I wouldn’t have eaten tonight if this didn’t get posted. And eating tonight will involve dessert night at my friends’ small group. DESSERTS!!! Nothing like food – especially desserts – to motivate this girl. And also the fact that I have a deadline in about two hours.
It is obvious that blogging and giving frequent updates is not my strength. I have the desire to, but apparently I lack the self-discipline to set self-deadlines to motivate self. Thank you, Christine Lee and Jen Lohnes for your threats…er…I mean “encouragement” along the way. It is because of you that these words are now posted. Yay for dedicated, tough-loving friends. Seriously, I love and need you guys!
So, moving on to the real subject of this blog post. While I feel a major need to give an overall update on my life and highlights of the last few months, I will start by just sharing one significant revelation from my time in Argentina.
As I shared in my last post (way back in August!), my main mode of transportation while in Argentina were my legs…I walked a lot. I really enjoyed it. Each day when I left home, I walked about 10 blocks on the simple dirt roads, passing familiar scenes of houses and dogs, sounds of masonry and construction work, an occasional bicyclist, several people zooming by on “motos”, small businesses and brightly-colored fruit stands, making my way closer to the church. One day, while walking and observing all of these things, my usual thoughts were interrupted and I almost stopped in my tracks.
You see, most of my thoughts naturally ran through the filter of a 30-year-old American girl. American…one who knows the luxuries of immaculately-trimmed lawns, paved and striped roads, gorgeous landscaping and perfectly-shaped trees, flashy and well-branded business signs (with perfect fonts); workers with proper safety equipment and construction sites meeting OSHA standards; buying new products and expecting them to be without defect, depending on electricity and internet without interruption. In general, the American “normal” seems to be the strive for perfection, convenience and orderliness. If something is not perfect, it is usually assumed to be “in progress”, whether that is a road being repaired or a lawn that will be mowed tomorrow, etc. But overall the American standard is quality and perfection, right?
With this being the filter that my thoughts were going through, you can easily imagine that everything I saw while walking each day was falling below the bar of expected excellence, right? Focusing on just the landscaping side of things, I have often thought of how we are almost trained to appreciate a nicely-mowed, dark green lawn with the perfectly straight diagonal lines and no trace of a dandelion MORE than a beautifully wild field of tall grass and colorful flowers. And yet, the former requires chemical treatments and major upkeep to create this ideal “norm”, while the latter is natural yet……imperfect. Many times over the years I have wanted to change what I naturally appreciate. I want to love the chaotic, colorful, buggy fields of wild flowers and grasses more than I love the picture-perfect plain green lawns we all strive for. But I have struggled to change the fact that a nice, perfect, dandelion-free yard is appealing to me!
As I walked and was faced with so much “imperfection” in Argentina, my love for the imperfect grew. While I still appreciate the beauty of nicely-maintained landscaping (as my recent visit to California confirmed for me!), I have also come to see imperfection as a beauty of its own. The perfection we often strive for in America causes us to be high-maintenance in many, very unnecessary ways. We stress ourselves out, grow disappointed in one another, become easily dissatisfied, and often lose track of what really matters…all for the sake of trying to accomplish “perfection”.
I am a perfectionist and I value excellence. But my definition of “perfect” is shifting. While I strongly believe that God deserves our best in all that we do, I am becoming more and more comfortable with being “excellently imperfect”. 
What a relief that is! I think that I am also growing in grace toward my fellow imperfect human beings and appreciating the beauty of less-than-perfect things. If you can see beauty in imperfection, all of a sudden the world becomes extremely radiant and more alive right before your eyes.
I was again reminded of the beauty in imperfection this past weekend when I was searching for shells at Tawharanui beach here in New Zealand. At first I was looking for the best, whole, perfectly-shaped shells. That’s what you do when you look for shells, right? Then I remembered that even the partial shells have something to offer. I was inspired to create some art pieces using the shells…the IMPERFECT shells. As I searched, my focus shifted away from perfect shapes because I was imagining how the broken pieces would come together in all their different colors and shapes and sizes to create a beautiful piece of art. Suddenly the “stress” of finding perfect shells was gone and I thoroughly enjoyed picking up the colorful, full-of-artistic-potential “rejects” that no one else would probably ever want. I came home happy with my beach loot and I anticipate some art happening soon!
I’m grateful that my journey included those daily walks along the dirt roads of Colón, Argentina. That dirt changed me. I now catch fresh, surprising glimpses of beauty in the constant imperfections all around us. My eyes see the world differently and people are more and more beautiful to me now.
Which leads me to this song…enjoy! “Beauty in the World”
