Addy Dixon: Perfectly Imperfect
“What’s that on your face?” is a common question I’ve heard over and over and over in my life. My birthmark is literally imperfect....Biblical Christianity is the only way to really see how imperfections and beauty can work together."
I’m Addy Dixon, a junior (and rising senior) at Liberty, and I’ve been here since preschool. Earlier this year, I completed the Junior Thesis, which is a capstone presentation here at Liberty. The topic I spoke on is so close to my heart and I would love to share it with you today. It actually starts with a story, set one evening at my busy dance studio. The lobby was packed with kids going in and out, when I noticed a little girl a few years younger than me was staring at me. I don’t know if any of you have ever experienced someone staring at you, but it’s a little awkward and you don’t know where to look. I just kept tying my shoes. Finally, she scrunched her face, leaned in, and poked my birthmark. At that point, I smiled and said “That’s my Port Wine Stain, I was born with it.” Satisfied, she moved on.
“What’s that on your face?” is a common question I’ve heard over and over and over in my life. My birthmark is literally imperfect. In fact, it requires treatment to fix. I’ve had 43 laser surgeries at Children’s Hospital to contain its growth. Yet, God made me beautifully, right? Biblical Christianity is the only way to really see how imperfections and beauty can work together. We’re living in a world where nothing is perfect, but God made this world beautifully. This is something that has been super helpful in my life, but it’s something that Christians aren’t too comfortable accepting. Whenever I talk with a Christian about my Port Wine Stain (PWS), I usually say something like “this is a beautiful flaw that helps fully make me who I am.” The response I often get is “Oh no, don’t worry, you’re perfect, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!” While people who say this often have nice intentions, they couldn’t be more wrong. I’m imperfect, and that’s okay. So, why do we Christians often feel the need to prove to others that visible flaws are somehow perfect?
Instead of freeing people from a burden, this approach seems to be rooted in fear that calling something a flaw - let alone trying to fix it - insults God and His creation. Rather than trying to pretend that flaws are somehow “perfect”, there’s a better way: the Biblical way, the way that opens the door for people to see their physical flaws as flaws AND as features that exhibit God’s redeeming grace. This view is the one that seems to be the best answer to this dilemma.
Physical flaws should be viewed as imperfections that are redeemed by Christ. It’s both-and. In order to see truth, we must admit that no one is perfect.
Since nobody is perfect, we all have imperfections in some way. An imperfection is something that “went wrong” from its standard structure. If you look around the gym, you’ll notice that very few people, probably none, have a big pinkish splotch on their face. That’s because when most of us are developing in our mother’s wombs, our brains tell our faces to stop growing blood vessels at a certain point. Contrary to the norm, my face never picked up that signal, and missing that signal made my face unique, and something that went wrong. While I don’t see other people with PWSs around here currently, we all have imperfections. Sometimes those are physical and visible, like my PWS. Sometimes our imperfections are not visible, like a peanut allergy or asthma. Sometimes our brains simply work differently, like with ADHD or dyslexia. We all have something!
Still, Christians can have a hard time saying their unique differences are often imperfections because of Psalms 139, the passage this school has us memorize early on. Verses 13-16 say, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Doesn’t our perfect God see His own creation as perfect? The answer is no, He doesn’t. In these verses, we’re called beautiful and wonderful, but we’re never called perfect. All of this makes it possible for us to openly point out our own physical imperfections.
God doesn’t say anything against the value of people with physical defects. We must remember that the term “imperfect” is not a term of value. Every human is valuable. Even with your imperfections, you are still valuable and beautiful. “Imperfect” is merely a word we use to describe something that deviates from its standard form.
Even with imperfections, we can know that God created you and me intentionally, knowing we would have our flaws. We were made in His image, but “image” does not have to mean humanity was fashioned perfectly like its creator. We can be made in God’s image and still be flawed, and He uses everything for His own good purposes. He has dominion over everything in and outside of the universe, including our flaws.
The best way we can understand this is through Isaiah 64 of the potter and his clay. For Christians, God is the potter while we are His clay. First, God fashioned man with perfect clay. Then, we sinned, and could never be complete here on earth. Instead of throwing out the imperfect clay, God used (and still uses) it in His perfect mold to form His beautiful creation. God is in control of flaws and the role they play. He’s still the ultimate designer.
It’s okay to say we’re not perfect because God uses our imperfections to teach us to lean on His grace more. This shows up in 2 Corinthians 12, a passage in the Bible where the Apostle Paul talks about a “thorn in his flesh,” which he asked God to get rid of, but God did not. Paul clearly knew that having this thorn in his flesh was a flaw which made him weak. Our imperfections can be our weaknesses. However, Paul then sees his flaw the way God sees it. And Paul is able to see how God’s grace is involved in his own life. God said to Paul “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” It is not up to us to make flaws perfect; by grace, God fills in that gap. Right now, we can come to God imperfectly here on earth because Christ provided the perfect sacrifice for us. And so, it’s okay to openly acknowledge places where we are obviously imperfect.
All of this can really work together because of one simple reason: God has abundant and overflowing grace. This grace affects everybody. Grace is what makes it possible for everyone to interact with each other in this sinful world. Grace can build connections and praise our creator in wonderful ways.
Because God first had grace for me with my obvious flaw, I can have grace for other flawed people. I can have grace when people ask about my imperfection— even if their questions come out in rude or awkward or otherwise imperfect ways. I can have grace when someone else’s flaws make life difficult, or even when my own flaws make life difficult. Leave your burden of compensating for a flawed world on the cross, and instead, be okay with, and enjoy, dwelling with our perfect and gracious God imperfectly in this beautiful world.
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