Bishop T.D. Jakes: You Need To Learn How To Love Imperfect People

If you wish your family looked like the Huxtables,
the Bradys, or any other “perfect” home on
television, Bishop T.D. Jakes says you’re missing
the point. He joined Oprah onstage for
a two-part episode of “Oprah’s Lifeclass” and discussed what
he says is the true definition of family.
Family is “God’s way of introducing us to a
socialized environment,” he says in the above
video. “It is where we, on ground level zero, begin
to find out how we act and interact with other
people. Ultimately, it becomes a support group for
a life-long journey.”
Bishop Jakes says it is important to remember is
that no family is perfect. “It is not about getting
your family to look like some image you saw on
TV,” he says.
We have a tendency to look at our own problem-
filled home and think the family across the street
has it better. “When in reality they’re probably crazy and
too, they just mask it a little bit better than you do,”
he says.
Bishop Jakes says there is no such thing as a
perfect family. “It doesn’t have to be perfect. It
doesn’t have to be flawless. It doesn’t have to be
what you had in mind. You can’’t control it. But it is
a gymnasium for love to work out in.”
“Whoa, Tweetable moment,” Oprah says. “A
gymnasium for love to work out in.”
“That’s how love works out,” Bishop Jakes further
explains. “That’s how you learn to love crazy
people,” he says with a laugh. “That’s how you
learn how to forgive. That’s how you learn your
people skills.”
Just like the body needs weight and resistance
training, Bishop Jakes says love needs
metaphorical exercise to become stronger.
“You need to learn how to love imperfect people,”
he says. “Because if you succeed at loving
imperfect people, then it becomes plausible that
somebody could love imperfect you.”