I wonder if you can remember occasions in your teenage years when your skin did not look as clear as you wanted it to look. Perhaps, like me, you tried to cover up those annoying blemishes and hope no one would notice them, even though they felt so obvious. Yes, there are certain stages when our appearance may matter more than at other times – although I am sure I did not worry about such things at the tender age of ten, as our youngest granddaughter seems to.
Recently, she caught the flu and was quite sick. But a far worse calamity for her was that she ended up with a cold sore on her face below her nose. It was not obvious, but it must have felt that way to her, as she flatly refused to go to various places because people would see it and maybe say something to her. That even included her dad!
I felt our daughter was wise in the way she dealt with this whole issue. Once our granddaughter calmed down a little, her mum pointed out how, sometimes, we have to put up with how we look and face the world anyway. She reminded our granddaughter of a lady who works in their school office who has obviously experienced terrible burns sometime in her life. Her face is badly disfigured and some of her fingers are missing, but she cheerfully goes about her work the same as anyone else and does not try to hide at all. We suspect this made our granddaughter think at least, but she still felt sensitive about her own one almost unnoticeable blemish.
Yet how can I judge our granddaughter in any way? I remember once as a child agonising over some homework I was given to do one weekend. It was a matter of pride for me to create a special, fancy heading for such work, so I laboured long and hard at writing the title in Old English script, using a thin, black pen with a nib. Each time there was a blot, however, or the printing was crooked or something else was wrong with it, I tore out the relevant page in my exercise book, along with the unused page attached to it. After some time, to my mother’s disgust, there were barely any pages left in the whole book.
Just as well we do not need to go to such lengths with God – for two reasons. First, God sees everything anyway. I used to think it was so scary that I could not hide my shortcomings from God, but, thankfully, the time came when I realised how freeing it is to know God sees everything – and loves and accepts me anyway. And that is the second reason I do not have to try to hide from God. Of course, I need to live in a way that does not presume on God’s grace, but it is so good to know God will never stop loving me, despite my mistakes and imperfections. I am God’s child – and, whatever happens, I can remain safe and secure in that knowledge.
Blemishes or otherwise, we are truly blessed, don’t you think?
I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. Isaiah 43:25
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