The Missing Piece (by Shel Silverstein) tells the story of a circle that was missing a piece. 
A large triangular wedge had been cut out of  it. The circle wanted to be whole with 
nothing missing, so it went around looking for its missing piece.  But because it was incomplete 
and therefore could roll only very slowly, it admired the flowers along the way.
It chatted with worms.  It enjoyed the sunshine.  It found lots of different pieces, but none 
of them fit.  So it left them all by the side of the road and kept on searching.  Then one day 
the circle found a piece that fit perfectly.  It was so happy. Now it could be whole, with 
nothing missing.  It incorporated the missing piece into itself and began to roll.  Now that it
was a perfect circle, it could roll very fast, too fast to notice the flowers or talk to the 
worms. 

When it realized how different the world seemed when it rolled so quickly, it stopped, left 
its found piece by the side of the road and rolled slowly away. 
The lesson of the story was that in some strange sense we are more whole when we are 
missing something.  The man who has everything is in some ways a poor man.  He will 
never know what it feels like to yearn, to hope, to nourish his soul with the dream of 
something better.  He will never know the experience of having someone who loves him 
give him something he has always wanted and never had. There is a wholeness about the 
person who has come to terms with his limitations, who has been brave enough to let go of 
his unrealistic dreams and not feel like a failure for doing so.  There is a wholeness about
the man or woman who has learned that he or she is strong enough to go through a tragedy 
and survive, who can lose someone and still feel like a complete person. 

When we accept that imperfection is part of being  human, and when we can continue rolling 
through life and appreciating it, we will have achieved a wholeness that others can only aspire to.  
That, I believe, is what God asks of us - not "Be perfect," not "Don't ever 
make a mistake," but "Be whole." And at the end, if we are brave enough to love, strong
enough to forgive, generous enough to rejoice in another's happiness, and wise enough to 
know there is enough love to go around for us all, then we can achieve a fulfillment that no 
other living creature will ever know.....