Unscathed by Reality (12/18/2025)

He’s flawed. She’s not perfect. The job stinks. I hear a lot about what isn’t right about everything from life partners to careers to neighborhoods to politics. I always wonder to what the imperfect is being compared. Too often in our modern era the “perfect” is something another has seen on social media or television or in a movie, not “real”. Those “perfects” have been unscathed by reality.

The reality is that none of us is perfect. Reality, real life lived shows us that. I can’t count the number of times and ways I am imperfect daily. I don’t think I am an anomaly.  

Are we wrestling with our expectations and how our lives stack up with them?

One of my December traditions is that I watch the movie “The Christmas Carol” every year. It reminds me most powerfully how we can get derailed on our journeys by our expectations and desires. But we are called to be better people, to daily strive to draw closer to our real selves by drawing closer to the LORD, to Love Itself. We are called to conversion, to change ourselves.

During this holy season of Advent, as we make our way to the manger on Christmas, let us open ourselves more fully to the LORD’s Spirit and to the realization that the most perfect being was laid in a manger because his parents had no bed for him. Life isn’t perfect – not yet. We aren’t perfect, but we are called to be. May we pray for help in opening ourselves to our Savior and to the wonders of how Love itself can change us from within.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.