Beauty in the Mistakes

Beauty in this world is not going to be perfect. We live in a flawed, sinful world that is and can be ugly. Things aren't going to look picture perfect and we ought not to expect them to - we as Christians should know that if anyone does.

But we still do.

And maybe it's mostly women who are like this, although there are men who have this mentality, too, I am sure, but we tend to think that if we do "this" and "that" a certain way, it's going to work out right and be perfect. It's an entitlement mentality, but sometimes a lot sneakier.

Taking a man's set of rules and following them to the letter isn't going to make it work out picture perfect. For instance, most girls want a beautiful "perfect" courtship. Some promoters of courtship lay down what they think are clear-cut guidlines to protecting the couple from falling into sin in any way. Don't do this, don't do that, do this, do that and so on.

All well and good. I believe that any couple in a relationship with marriage in view should have guidlines and guidance.

But. But. It doesn't mean it is always going to be beautiful.

It doesn't mean that your heart won't break.

But horror of horrors - is heartbreak such a dreadful thing as it is sometimes made out to be? Is it something sinful that must be avoided like the curse? Please believe me, I am not condoning going out and getting your heart broken! But, just because your heart gets hurt doesn't mean that it is the end of the world. Heartbreak happens every day. Children break parents' hearts. Parents break children's hearts. Siblings hurt each other, grandparents hurt grandchildren, friends hurt friends, and sometimes (imagine that!) husbands and wives hurt each other.

Heartbreak doesn't happen just between a man and a woman, a boyfriend and girlfriend, or husband and wife. It happens to just about anyone.

We all have regrets and we all wish sometimes that we could go back and undo things. The thing is, we can't. Even if we did our best to keep heartbreak from happening - but it still did - it still remains that we can't undo the past. Locking our hearts up doesn't always work, after all.

And maybe, just maybe, don't you think that the beauty of it all is that God can create something beautiful, something precious - for such true love is - out of all the mess we make with mistakes?

credit: artwork "The Broken Pot," by Henry Ryland