“Each of us has a unique flaw. But it’s the particular cracks and flaws that each one of us brings that make our lives together so interesting and rewarding. Like puzzle pieces that fit just so our edges and curves help us form a bond that would not have been possible otherwise. When you take all people for what they are, it is easier to find the good in each one’s singularity.” – Arielle Ford
It is so easy to forget that each of us has our own unique flaws—our ways of rubbing others the wrong way or not fitting their expectations of us, just as they often don’t fit our expectations of them. And yet, it is these very “flaws” that may be our greatest gifts to the world.
Einstein was dismissed by his teachers in his youth as a less than satisfactory student and somewhat dull. He was not given the opportunity for higher education because of his “flaw.” And yet, the fact that his mind worked in ways not decipherable to his teachers ended up in giving us the gift of tremendous breakthrough ideas in the area of theoretical physics that opened up doors of previously unseen knowledge and sparked the imaginations of so many that have followed in his footsteps.
Helen Keller was not only blind, but deaf as well. Certainly such flaws would keep her from making any significant contribution. And but for the faith of one woman who saw her potential, we would have missed out on one of the spiritual lights of the last century. It was in overcoming her flaws that Helen Keller brought her unique “vision” to the world…
It would behoove us to honor our flaws and the flaws of those around us, by accepting each person fully, just the way they are. For we never know what “flaw” will turn out to bear great blessing. We may just not have eyes to see it yet.