What to Do with Your Weaknesses

I collected baseball cards when I was a kid.

For Christmas Granny and Papa often bought me a complete set of Topps or Upper Deck or Fleer cards. I knew before unwrapping it what the present was because of its oblong shape. (It was either that or a decanter of liquor.)

Being the weirdo that I am, I never opened the boxes. I knew they had more value in mint condition than if I got them out and played with them.

Matthew Paulson (CC)

So rather than mess them up, I bought a Beckett pricing guide so I could see how much individual cards in those boxes were worth.

One year I received a Topps 1992 complete box set. Checking the guide, I noticed a card from a couple of years before with a ridiculously high price tag and an exclamation mark after it.

I remember the guide listing it at $20,000. Considering I was 9 at the time, the actual price was probably closer to $1000—still a large chunk of change for your average baseball card.

The guide offered no reason for the high valuation; it was just one in series of thousands of cards listed. One day, though, I found out why.

It was a mess up.

Apparently some debris in the printer prevented the player’s name from appearing on a certain number of cards. I’m not sure how Beckett even knew of their existence; maybe Topps wanted them back so that they could destroy them.

Imperfection Is Beautiful

Maybe you’re a mess up like I am.

Maybe you’ve got blemishes, weaknesses, and you’ve committed mistakes. I say embrace them. Imperfection is beautiful, because imperfection is real.

1 Peter 4:10 says, "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” Sounds awesome, right? But being gifted in one area means you’re lacking in others. So you serve others with your strengths, and others serve you with theirs. Weaknesses make us who we are, they make us different, and therefore valuable.

In our imperfections, God completes us. Our flaws drive us to Him who is without blemish.

So please don’t spend so much time trying to build up your weaknesses, to conform to some sort of cookie cutter societal standard. Instead find your strengths and make them stronger. You’ll be much happier if you do.

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