Five Minute Friday :: Second

• Five Minute Friday :: Second Linkup

Retail merchandise – especially clothing – isn't always exactly perfect. For one reason or another, the end product sometimes has flaws, and sometimes the usual input doesn't even result in a finished product. That doesn't mean they can't be sold, but they get various warning labels like second, irregular, or imperfect—there's even a category of thirds.

Humans aren't always exactly perfect in any endeavor or situation. Contests and competitions include first place (blue ribbon), second (red ribbon) and third (white) or fourth (yellow). An organization or sponsor even can go further down the line. Graduation classes get numerically ranked. First in your class! Valedictorian. Second? Salutatorian. Everyone can't be first. Or even second in everything.

Although I usually got good grades in school if I tried hard enough (good instructors helped), academically I've never been particularly rank or ratings conscious. However, those years I entered art in the San Diego County Fair the first place blue and the second place red ribbons I won always excited me, and I worked during the year for best results. (After writing that, I suddenly feel I need to enter the LA County Fair. It will cover the month of May with the theme Art Unleashed.)

Humans can get competitive. We tend to compare ourselves with other people, compare today's accomplishments with yesterday's and last year's. But in the end, first, second, irregular, or imperfect matters not because:

See what love the Father has given us
That we should be called children of God
and that is what we are.
1 John 3:1

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