40 Ways My Labyrinth is Like My Life--#29

29. Sometimes it's Just Perfect!


Of course, it depends on how you define Perfect. Take today, for instance. It was about 60something degrees and cloudy, but the high, bright kind of clouds that I don't mind at all. The grass is high and I'm so far behind on path maintenance that I'm worried about getting the labyrinth ready in time for Holy Week. (Next week! Aack!!) The roses at the trellis entry are reaching for your hair, and the grapes and kiwis are cheerfully reaching for everything! But the little cherry bushes are in bloom, and even one of the plums has some cute little pinky blossoms. The berry vines are all leafed out, and the grass, high though it may be, is green. Such a nice color after a gray winter!

Just Perfect!

Defining perfection. I'd say that's one of the very most essential actions of life. It makes all the difference in the world to how you value yourself, your surroundings, the people you love (or don't), your work, your faith, even God. The only thing worse than a nit-picky perfectionist, after all, would have to be an all-powerful nit-picky perfectionist! Good heavens! Or rather, bad heavens, because they would be, if they were reigned over by the kind of God famously described by colonial preacher, Jonathan Edwards--just waiting for you to make a mistake so he could throw you in the fire.

On the other hand, if you see God as a kind of wishy-washy, kind-hearted coach who gives the You're Perfect! trophy to everyone for every action, no matter whether it was good, bad, or indifferent, someone's best or someone's lazy attempt to get by with the least effort, then why even have the word "perfect" to begin with? It kind of kills motivation to learn to do anything better or grow into a new way of being.

All kinds of people have all kinds of opinions on this topic, so I prefer to see how Jesus defined perfection. In Matthew 5:48, he says, "Be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." Scary. Less scary when you see the context, which is loving everyone, even your enemies, but still! Who can do that perfectly? However, Luke 6 contains a less-famous copy of this same part of what we often call the Sermon on the Mount. And the corresponding verse, which is 6:36, says, "Be merciful, even as your Father in heaven is merciful."

Wait--you mean Jesus defined perfection as mercy? But why would you need mercy unless you. . . Oh, I get it! The grass is long and the path is partly obliterated and the pruning didn't get done in time, but the cherry bushes are blooming, and the grapes are cheerfully reaching out in all directions, and the roses grab your hair on the way by.  Perfect!