PERFECTION

I had an amazing weekend with lots and lots of self discoveries. In this moment I am possibly happier than I have ever been before. I hope for the future and am confident in myself. I keep reflecting on my new friends and my time in California. What made it so great? What made me long to move there? What do I need in my life to continue the joy I am experiencing right now? What it is it around me that makes things a little more challenging?

This allowed to me start thinking on "Perfection"

In the Mormon church we are commanded to be perfect. If we are not perfect we face not only the wrath of God but in many instances we face the wrath of those who stand ready to cast stones in our communities in our congregations. I am not suggesting that this is every member of the church or even the majority, but I do know these ready to judge are plentiful around us. So I can acknowledge the fact that these people are out there. I can even love them for exactly who they are. But what does this mean to me, to us, and the world?

Some questions I had to face this weekend.

What if I have carried over some of these judgments and also the expectation of perfection being and acting as nearly the same person in following a specific religious culture and rules to the exact. Then maybe no matter how much I think I am okay with being gay, what if part of me still thinks there is something wrong with being gay.

I don't blame this on the church, but I do give credit to the world in which I was raised. If I did anything that was slightly out of the "BE A MAN" box, I was called a faggot or homo. This was by friends and family, the people I trusted to teach me the way.

So now what. I think the biggest realization I had with all of this perfection stuff is the idea that when we are commanded to be perfect, we also have to know we were created in the image of God. So it hit me. We are perfect in who we are and for who we are. We can make choices which effect us, but when we look at each other, we are literally full of perfection.

I am a gay man. There is no changing that. The great thing about me being gay is that is one of the things that makes me perfect just like the youth with Autism I work with; their Autism makes them perfect.

What a great gift it is to know that I am perfect, in God's image, in my own amazing way. The even greater gift is to open my eyes to all the glorious perfect people around me, who in God's image, were created perfect in their own way.

Life is freaking amazing!