Rewind #18: Right on the Money

Original air date: 18Feb2010

"She’s bulls-eye perfect, she’s right on the money ..." (Alan Jackson)

I dedicate this song to ....... me.

Now, before you become all appalled at my narcissism, give me a minute to explain. 

It’s sometimes a temptation to think that something is wrong with us if we don’t live up to some standard of perfection that is generally adopted by our society - but never ever reached. *No* one “has it all” - not even the people we put up on a pedestal for those measures of success. Sure, we look at the magazine rack and see all of those perfectly-sculpted human figures, and suddenly we feel crappy about ourselves. (Marketers of course like it that way, because then we’ll buy the “look better” product that model is selling that you know she has never once used.) But you know what? I have a simple fix for that entire epidemic of low self-esteem in America. One company came *close* to a fix, but weren’t quite thorough enough. I believe that in the 7th grade EVERY child should have their portrait taken by a professional photographer and then be given a 2-day course in Adobe Photoshop. With entry-level proficiency at the most basic Photoshop techniques, I think every child should be given the raw picture file that was taken, and within 3 hours they will be able to transform that picture into something that looks remarkably like the cover of that magazine. One of the most self-esteem boosting moves I ever did was learn Photoshop. Guess what? I really CAN have perfect skin!! I really can have a longer neck, less there, more there, and perfectly white teeth. I think this exercise should be repeated about every 10 years throughout our lives, just to remind ourselves how much of the standard of perfection in America is nothing but smoke and mirrors.  But I have digressed.

In my particular case, it could be easy (and at times it *has* been easy) to think of my health issues and determine that something about me is broken, wrong, or less than perfect. It might be tempting to think that God made a mistake on me, or forgot about me altogether. But on the way home today I was listening to this song by Alan Jackson and was reminded of one simple truth: I am exactly how God made me at this moment. As a friend once reminded me, God was not surprised when biopsy or blood test results came back. God always knew this would happen to me -- and the fact that it IS happening is proof that this is all part of God’s will. 

Now I am not as bold as some who presume to know the mind of God, and so I cannot say that “God gave me” these conditions. But I can say they are in His will, since they are happening. I think of Job, who Satan inflicted with terrible hardships to test his faithfulness to the Lord. God did not directly give Job those trials, but He allowed them to happen because they served a bigger purpose. My faith says that on some level, that is what God is doing with me. God has created me exactly the way He wanted me to be. God has allowed everything that has come into my life, and I know He is powerful enough to use it ALL to work together for good for those that love Him .... and I love Him.