Living with Imperfection
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. (2 Cor. 12:9 NIV)
I recently took up knitting. As a young girl, I learned the basic knit and purl stitches from my aunt, but never actually made anything. I never learned to read a pattern and knew very little about the many varieties of yarn or the new bamboo needles with flexible cables. These are amazing! It had been more than fifty years since I knitted.
My husband likes to watch TV, but I get restless just sitting in front of that big screen. My original intent was to take up knitting or crocheting so I could keep my hands busy and out of the snack bags while we relaxed together in the evening. I reached out to my niece, who is an accomplished knitter, for advice on getting started. She pointed me to YouTube videos and sent me a set of needles, a book of “quick” knits for beginners, and a nifty bag to carry it all in. She started me on a simple scarf just to practice casting on, getting my stitches even, and handling the yarn. All good.
All good, that is, until I got several rows into my scarf, somehow reversed my work, and was suddenly knitting the row I should have been purling. After a few rows, I realized it looked funny, and after a consultation with my knitting expert niece, figured out what I had done wrong. She advised me to just keep going. I could “repeat” that mistake intentionally at the other end of the scarf, and it would look just fine. So I persevered for a few more days. But I wasn’t happy I just couldn’t let go of that imperfection. Every time I picked up that project, I saw only the mistake. I moved on to another simple project, an ear warmer. I abandoned the first scarf completely. I completed that ear warmer, but not without a few more knitting errors. Dropped stitches leave holes, albeit small ones, but holes nonetheless.
I am now on to my third project, a scarf with two color stripes meant to practice changing yarn, counting rows with stitch markers, and perfect my garter stitch. But grrrrr, I have already made one small mistake. Again, it wasn’t obvious until I had knitted two more rows. My only choice was to move on or rip back two rows and redo it. Not an easy task. I was quite annoyed with myself when I realized this, but then I was struck by the realization that I might just need to live with a little imperfection in this learning phase, or I will never get better. Worse, I may give up.
It also struck me that as adults, we expect to learn easily and quickly, getting it right the first time. As children, we are just pleased with our artwork, our LEGO building, our first sewing project, or Pinewood Derby car. I made my first dress when I was ten. A simple shift sewed with the loving guidance of my grandmother. I wore it proudly on Easter Sunday. I am sure it was not a perfect sewing job, but I was not impatient with myself as a ten-year-old. Perhaps, as adults, we all strive too hard for perfection and miss the simple joy of accomplishment. As a Christian, I should know by now, perfection is only something I can obtain through the blood of Jesus and not of my own doing. In this life, it was only Jesus who was perfect.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8-9 NIV).
Our goal as Christians is to be more like Jesus, which sets us on the journey to perfection. To begin that journey, we must begin with childlike faith.
“And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven’” (Matt. 18:3 NIV).
I accepted Jesus as a child and was raised in the faith. I was able to “practice” becoming a Jesus follower by learning Bible stories, memorizing Scripture, and singing hymns. As a child, I was willing to sing off-key, mispronounce all those Old Testament names, and just be a sheep in the Christmas program. I didn’t need to get it all right to find joy in the journey. I didn’t need to be perfect in my Bible knowledge to love Jesus. I could live with my imperfect knowledge. As I matured, not only physically but spiritually, I wanted to be better, wanted to know more, wanted to be perfected in my faith. That’s a good thing. Paul reminds us that self-discipline and perseverance pay off:
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever” (1 Cor. 9:24-25 NIV).
While we are on this journey, if we are to keep moving forward, we may have to live with some imperfection, in ourselves and in others. We’ll need to remember that God’s grace extends to us and through us to others and that it covers a multitude of sins. It allows us to move on through our mistakes, get better, and continue pursuing all that God has in store for us.
So, for now, I need to be a child again, learning something new. I need to quell my desire to make a beautiful sweater or chic cowl until I have a good foundation in the basics of knitting. And I need to be willing to make a few mistakes along the way. I’m pretty sure when I complete the scarf I am making now and send it to my granddaughter, she will not notice the mistake. And, if she does, the love that went into that scarf will far outweigh the imperfect stitch or two.
is a retired medical practice administrator living in southeast Michigan. She and her husband Jerry raised three sons who are all Eagle Scouts. Jill is a self-described “boy mom” who embraced scouting, cycling, and Star Wars so she was not left out of family activities. She has three grandchildren she loves to spoil whenever she gets the chance. She enjoys scrapbooking, bicycle touring, and being involved in the women’s ministry at her church.
Photograph © Samantha Romero, used with permission
