Grace for Growing Up

Red Bishops are among my favourite birds. They are stunningly beautiful, and when they appear in the neighbourhood I know that summer is around the corner. They look like this:

But in their juvenile state, when they are shedding their baby feathers and gaining their adult feathers, they look like this:

A bit pathetic, aren't they? I saw a juvenile Red Bishop today on my street, and as I was wondering whether birds could feel embarrassment or not, it suddenly dawned on me: I am just like that bird. There are aspects of my life in which I still have my baby feathers, parts where I have gloriously emerged as an adult, and parts where I'm still in process. Those in between parts are messy, awkward, and sometimes ugly.

I took it a step further. If there are parts of my life that are in the process of "growing up", then there are likely aspects of other people's lives that are in process. If that is so, how much grace do I give them to be in their "ugly" phase? Can I see them not as they are, but as they will be? Can I endure the present messiness in anticipation of the revealed beauty? If I expect that kind of grace for myself then I have to extend it to others.

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