Something beautiful

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face. Now we know in part; then we shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

-1 Corinthians 13:12



Close my eyes and hold my heart

Cover me and make me something

Turn my something normal

Into something beautiful

-"Something Beautiful", Jars of Clay



~~~



Ever since I understood the fact that all people are not born with equal talents and abilities, I have had the desire to be extraordinary. To be the best linguist, mathematicist, scientist, poet or author. To run the fastest or jump the longest or even pull the hardest. To be beautiful and graceful without effort. To be a genius. To walk on water when others had to swim or take a boat.



Life is wise enough not to give me all that I wish for, or else I wouldn't be here writing this now. But how often we have to dash against the rocks before we realise that we have limitations? That there is no shame in admitting failure, if you would use it as a stepping stone to better pursuits...



And then, after failing to meet one's expectations, one has the hardest fall to mediocrity. I am devastatingly normal, a yellow-brown leaf in the park in autumn. You could say each leaf is special, none like the other, etc. Who cares?! They're just dried leaves, nothing to look at. Nothing special.



Yet because of the oft-labelled resilient spirit of man, we rise again and try to take on those same rocks of challenge to prove our worth to....ourselves? A world that is busy admiring itself? Desperately wanting to show, "I am not just another yellow-brown leaf."



Is there any end to it?



The only alternative I can think of is to go back to the source, and know that even as our imperfect knowledge casts a shadow our mind; our short-sighted souls cannot grasp how infinitely more important, more solid and more distinctive each one of us is.



What am I then? A yellow-brown leaf, not a stretch to compare me then to a patch of mud? The clay cannot see the whole picture, it does not know how to shape itself. Take me then, potter, saviour, and shape me into something special. Something beautiful.

(Originally written on 26 September but because of image loading problem, did not get to upload it until now.)