Perfection

By: Kyle Elden

"Do not judge so that you will not be judged. "For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. (Matthew 7:1-5)

I only wanted to be perfect
I only wanted to be good

But
The long scar of mistakes
Travels across my body
Curving against my skin
Splaying open my humanness
Cutting across my despair

I only wanted you to be perfect
I only wanted you to be good

But
You have carved out deep places
In the people you have touched
And left some pain
To pool there
In the wake of your journey

We all only want for things the be perfect
We all only want for things to be good

But
Experience humbles us
We fall to our knees, scraped and bloody
Forehead against the ground of
Expectations and dreams, actions and choices
That don’t measure up

And we know nothing is wholly perfect
And we know nothing is wholly good

So
We learn to withhold judgment and hatred
Those dark demons that anchor us in the muck of fear and disgust
And forgiveness rises like a giant sun shedding light on everything
Until new life unfurls green tendrils and buds and the brightest
Colored and perfect blossoms imaginable