Every Masterpiece Has at Least One Flaw

I was sitting in my doctor’s examination room the other day and while I was waiting I looked at a painting she had hanging on the wall as you can see above. The frame was a window-frame with chipped paint, I love it. The painting is of an old run down country fruit and vegetable stand. There are baskets of apples sitting on the ground and smaller baskets of vegetables sitting on some old planks in front of an old store. The floor is dirt. It reminds me of something you’d see in an Amish community. Where passersby can stop and buy their produce.
When the doctor came in I mentioned how much I liked the painting and she said, thank you, but it’s not one of her husband’s paintings. She said he’s a very good artist and she has several of his paintings in some of the other rooms. She said if you look close you can see the perspective is off and they’ve painted shadows in the wrong places.
Later I thought about that…I thought, you know she didn’t see what I saw…she was looking at the flaws and errors in the painting. I was seeing a little country produce stand. It was quaint and made me feel nostalgic and peaceful. I wasn’t’ worried about the flaws.
Lots of times all we see are the flaws in things and in people. We miss the genuine smile…the story in the eyes…or the heartache…we see color or the physical characteristics and we judge without seeing the authentic, true person. All we see are the flaws.
It’s sad that we always go by our first impressions when we meet someone. And sometimes we are right, but lots of times we can be quite wrong.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t be our best. But I learned that even the Amish when they make furniture or sew or make a quilt they will put a flaw in their work on purpose just so they won’t have pride.
If a diamond is too perfect and has no flaws it is said to be a fake.
Our flaws are what make us unique. My uncle used to hate his freckles until one day his class had a freckle contest and he won…what he thought was a flaw actually made him a winner.
What we see as flaws are really blessings in disguise. So next time you look at someone or even yourself and all you see are the flaws, look again, look passed the flaws and see the person who is hiding on the inside just wanting to be accepted and loved just like you.
We may not be of much value to some people but to God we are a treasure, flaws and all.
~Marla Shaw O’Neill August 12, 2017
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 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. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 New International Version (NIV)
This is the message that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Jeremiah, go down to the potter’s house. I will give you my message there.”
So I went down to the potter’s house and saw him working with clay at the wheel. He was making a pot from clay. But there was something wrong with the pot. So the potter used that clay to make another pot. With his hands he shaped the pot the way he wanted it to be. Jeremiah 18:1-4 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
Marla
I love the Lord Jesus Christ and am passionate about writing. I hope you enjoy the blog and come to visit often. Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith. Habakkuk 2: 2-4

2 Comments

  1. Love this, Marla. This is powerful, “What we see as flaws are really blessings in disguise. So next time you look at someone or even yourself and all you see are the flaws, look again, look passed the flaws and see the person who is hiding on the inside just wanting to be accepted and loved just like you.” Amen!

Comments are closed.