photo credit: Todd Baker << technowannabe

You have to choose where you look, and in making that choice you eliminate entire worlds.

— Barbara Bloom

I don’t know about you but I find this photo intriguing. Broken, trampled and bruised, this tattered bloom was captured by a very insightful photographer, Todd Baker, who tells us he “Nearly stumbled over this poor, delicate beauty on my way to work one cold November morning. Dropped right in the middle of the parking lot, it looked to have been given quite a squish by at least a few busy feet. [Feet that were] too busy to stop, too busy to care, too busy to know what they missed.”

In my home is a small, red-clay pot that I display prominently because its beauty pleases me.  My husband’s brother, a sculptor and artist by trade, lovingly crafted the small vase early in his career in homage to American Indian artistry.  But somewhere, sometime, in its travels among households, the pottery was dropped and a large, V-shaped chunk broke off, breeching the narrow opening, leaving a gaping hole.

Whenever my brother-in-law visits, he offers to fix it.  I am sad that the brokenness displeases him – it offends his creative intent, it’s NOT as he planned.

But I always nix the fix.  I like it the way it is, broken and beautiful. For you see, he hid a secret inside the vase – he enameled the inside surfaces a stunning blue-sky azure that can only be seen with the side caved in.

Beautiful Imperfections Grace Our Lives

It occurs to me that we move so quickly through our lives that we miss the ordinary but ephemeral gifts that bless our busy lives – lives that often feel broken because things are NOT going as we planned.

If you’ve ever baked a cake that “fell” or discovered that one of your precious china teacups is cracked, or like me, you’ve treasured a damaged vase, then feast your eyes on the delightful illustrations of Rebekka Grant of the United Kingdom – her cheery kitchen scenes will remind you that beauty still lives in your “damaged goods”.  Imperfections grace these flawed treasures with memories of their journeys. Battered they may be.  But they’re beautiful too – if we only we will turn a blind eye to their flaws and focus on their present perfections.  Savor these keepsakes, warts and all.

And for those of us who endlessly endure the annoying idiosyncrasies of close friends and companions, listen as actress Yasmin Ahmad shares her loving tribute to a husband’s idiosyncrasies.  You will smile through your tears… And perhaps then you’ll see the people in your world through new and lovingly tolerant eyes as you relish the beautiful imperfections that abound in your life.

Mending Is Different From Fixing

Then again, sometimes there are breaks that could use more than a loving eye, that invite a mending hand.  Listen to a very special NPR (National Public Radio) program, This I Believe – We All Need Mending.  And for those of you who won’t or don’t link out, here’s an excerpt:

Mending something is different from fixing it. Fixing it suggests that evidence of the problem will disappear. I see mending as a preservation of history and a proclamation of hope. When we mend broken relationships, we realize that we’re better together than apart, and perhaps even stronger for the rip and the repair.

Mending doesn’t say, “This never happened.” It says instead… “Something or someone was surely broken here, but with God’s grace it will rise to new life.” So too my old pajamas, the fence around the garden, the friendship torn by misunderstanding, a country being ripped apart by economic and social inequity and a global divide of enormous proportions — they all need mending.  I’m starting with the pajamas.

— Susan Cooke Kittredge

Let’s bring down the curtain on this post with yet another actor’s line, this time from Sasha Azevedo: “Life is too short not to make the best and the most of everything that comes your way every day.”

This I, Ellie, Believe

I believe that “making the most of everything” that comes your way is like the protective mat that we now install in children’s outdoor play areas – it’s the squishy stuff that cushions our stumbles and falls… and gives us yet another reason to want to bounceback when the going gets tough.  Celebrate the goodness in all things broken and then, carry on…

Try shifting your point of view – and see if you spot beauty you never noticed before.  And then, share!