these defects lend an air of authenticity

I was just reading the label on a pizza tray (thanks Dad!).

I always look for a particular line on labels ... the "this thing is gonna get battered when you use it so don't complain about it" phrase.

This one was a new wording to me ...
Slight scratches caused by the cutting action of knives and forks are normal, and lend your piece an air of authenticity.

Let's put aside for a second how a pizza pan could not be "authentic" ... I don't know either.

Instead, let's think about the Velveteen Rabbit idea ... that slight scratches, imperfections, dents, flaws ... lend an air of authenticity.

On garments, they tell you that irregularities in the fabric are normal, and part of the overall "look."

Hand stitched quilts are beautiful, and stand out because of slight unevenness-es in the stitching.

God chooses imperfect people, and does wonderful things with them.

This week, I was reading Streams in the Dessert and the following quote jumped out at me:

Christ is building His kingdom with earth's broken things. Men want only the strong, the successful, the victorious, the unbroken, in building their kingdoms; but God is the God of the unsuccessful, of those who have failed. Heaven is filling with earth's broken lives, and there is no bruised reed that Christ cannot take and restore to glorious blessedness and beauty. He can take the life crushed by pain or sorrow and make it into a harp whose music shall be all praise. He can lift earth's saddest failure up to heaven's glory. - J.R. Miller

As we sit here, the day between Good Friday and Easter ... isn't it a glorious thing to think about the One, who went willingly to the cross, to pay our debt? And then, rose again, in proof that payment had been accepted, and we would, one day, be raised?

Since this one turning point in history, God has, for 2,000 years, been gathering His church together ... His little collection of battered, ragged, and moth-eaten people. changing them. USING them. He's not like us. He doesn't go for the pristine, and perfect. When He starts a project, He looks to use the workers, and ingredients, that have fallen to the bottom of the barrel ... so when the work is done, the glory goes to Him.

To repeat a message that never tires those who have heard it most often ... have you accepted what He offers? He's calling the wretches, the sinful, and the failed ... and He offers forgiveness, new life, and hope. Have you taken Him up on it?

my nephew, the antidepressant

How can you NOT smile at this little fellow? :)