A PERFECTLY DIVINE MESS
by contemplativeinquiry
“Bow to your awkwardness. Kneel at the altar of your failures. Smile at your clumsiness. Befriend your incompetence. Laugh when you stumble and fall. These are all perfectly precious waves in the oceanic vastness of you.
“Perfection is unavailable in time, but found only in presence; the presence of imperfection makes you real, and relatable, and that’s perfect. You’ll be consistent when you’re dead. Until then, celebrate your silly old self, your marvelous inability to conform, or to live up to any image at all.
“Don’t bore yourself into a spiritual coma. Say the wrong thing, just for once. There is such freedom in allowing yourself to screw up, to be kind to your mistakes, to kiss the ground as you rise again, to adore the falling too.
“Don’t let your spirituality numb your humanity, your humility, and most important, your sense of humor.”
Jeff Foster The Way of Rest: Finding the Courage to Hold Everything in Love Boulder, CO: Sounds True, 2016
[…] A PERFECTLY DIVINE MESS […]
So true. Perfection is a mirage not worth chasing.
As St. Augustine once said: “If thou should say, “It is enough, I have reached perfection,” all is lost. It is the function of perfection to make one know one’s imperfection.”
Thanks Ron. I like the St. Augustine quote. At one level I feel a certain reactivity towards St. Augustine’s theology. At another, he’s the only person in the ancient world to let me know what it’s like to be him.
I’ve been listening to Jeff Foster for a few years now, ‘The courage to love’ has given me so much hope, strength and love. His vulnerability allows us to be the ‘perfectly divine mess’…..thank you Jeff