WHACK! “A Gentle Whack on the Side of the Head” God

What a great start to the morning -on my second cup of coffee, checking the third item off my to-do list, and accomplishing numerous jobs. I was a multitasking fiend, zipping along like a road runner.

WHACK! Hitting myself on the side of the head I said out loud, “I forgot to pray this morning.”

Each morning I try to start my day with the Lord. I sit quietly and praise him. I lift up my prayer concerns for family and friends and I read a devotional. Often I also journal where I feel God is leading me on my journey.

Sounds nice, doesn’t it? But to be honest too often I dive into my day without first honoring God.

WHACK!

Do you watch NCIS? This favorite television show of mine shows the main character, Gibbs, frequently slapping Dinozzo, another agent, on the back of the head -a mild, loving head slap to redirect Dinozzo’s attention back to where it belongs. Gibbs administers tough love on his agents.
WHACK!

As soon as I realized I forgot God, I quit all the important, urgent items in front of me and closed my eyes in prayer.

Thank you Lord for being a “gentle whack on the side of head God.” I am so sorry for not putting you first, not just this morning, but all the time. Thank you for nudging me back into your arms and welcoming me there. Like the father in the story of the prodigal son, you wait and run out to greet the one who was lost. You not only wait, you celebrate when we return to you. I can not even imagine the depth of your love. You wait for me while I run around madly pursuing what I think is more important than you. Then you gently remind me, redirect my attention back to you. You are love, tough love, but love all the same. Help me to remember you.

I am grateful for a welcoming God.
I am thankful for a waiting God.
I am in awe of our wonderful God who occasionally is also a “gentle whack on the side of head type of God.”

EXUBERANT SPIRITUALITY

What does it mean to be exuberant? Ever hear a word you haven’t heard for awhile, then all of a sudden you hear it and see it everywhere? EXUBERANT!

Exuberant means to be fruitful, joyful, uninhibitedly enthusiastic, lavishly abundant and abounding in vitality. Wouldn’t that be a glorious way to live?

Kyla, pictured here, displays exuberance when she squeals with all her miniature might like a Jurassic Park baby dinosaur. Zeal erupts from her very center and her chubby arms and legs gush with unabashed enthusiasm in every lively direction. Her face radiates with an eagerness adults too soon lose.

LESSON: Exuberance involves my whole being

My online writers group – all five of us – are participating in the National Novel Writing Month or NANO for short. The web site: http://www.nanowrimo.org/ describes the process as exuberant imperfection.

People free write 50,000 word novels during thirty days, though a few of us rebels write non-fiction. The idea is to just dig deep into our souls and find those themes, thoughts, and dreams and record them. Editing and revising come later. Dig, dig dig, write, write write and find the treasures you never knew you had buried within you.

Lesson: Exuberance does not have to be perfect – just do it and as the process unfolds, new treasures will be discovered.

Exuberant God.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are. 1 John 3:1

God is exuberant and thanks to the love he lavishes upon us, we are exuberant and that is how we are designed to worship him – with EXUBERANCE! God intends us to live each day exuberantly, drawing on his love and strength to face whatever life throws upon us.

Kyla shows me to worship God with my whole being and uninhibited joy.

NANO shows me to dive right in, not worrying that my words, actions or life are not perfect.

God shows me his blueprint how to live each day drawing on his eternal exuberance!

Exuberance mirrors the word, enthusiasm which means to be entused or filled with God.

Now that is how I want to live with exuberance enthusiasm!

Thank you Lord for your exuberance!

Weekend Reflections on the Word of God - October 25, 2009

Lectio Divina - a holy reading of the Bible slowly, savoring it, and enjoying it with the Lord – is the spiritual practice of sacred reading of the scriptures. The intention is not to learn or gain information but to deepen our relationship with God. St Benedict encourages us to “to listen with the ear of our hearts.”
Join me once a week for Lectio Divina. I will share a verse and a word that spoke to my heart. Read and listen to the verses here. And gently ask God for a word or phrase that speaks to your heart for that day – that is what lectio means. Once we find that gift, we hold it, meditate, and savor its meaning. This step is called meditation.
Then offer that word back to God in prayer or the third step of oratio. In prayer we allow our real selves to be touched and changed by the word of God.
Finally, we simply rest in the presence of the One who has used His word as a means of inviting us to accept His transforming embrace. No one who has ever been in love needs to be reminded that there are moments in loving relationships when words are unnecessary.
Come into the presence of the Lord.

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and hills will burst into song before you,

and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Isaiah 55:12 (NIV)

As we drove around the curve tonight, my husband and I grew suddenly silent. Right in front of us stood a patch of trees emblazoned in color. The sun broke through the heavy rain clouds casting a spotlight on this patch of heaven on earth just for us, I think.

This verse raced through my mind. The trees burst in such vibrant music before us, I actually clapped my hand in appreciation.

Smaller trees toward the front wore their finest fashion – all burnt burgundy.
The next tallest - the golden yellow’s – danced waving their butter dipped leaves.
The tallest stubborn ones held tightly to their green hues, though duller and darken from their mid summer glory.
And sprinkled throughout the whole forest glimmered pieces of copper and a few otter browns peeking out.

Nature knows how to praise God without ever saying a word.
And my husband and I joined them with silent praise for such a Creator God.

“Don’t Use that Tone of Voice with your Mother, I mean God.”

I pray in the shower. I cannot believe I am telling you this, but I do pray in the shower. That may sound like a strange place for you, but I find the warm refreshing water a wonderful time to share my concerns with God.

So there I stood the other day, starting off my day feeling good and just babbling away in my bubbles, telling God about all my concerns and just want I needed him to do. I even expressed my impatience and frustration at several prayers that he hadn’t gotten around to answering yet.

Perhaps the echo in the shower stall or my vulnerable state magnified my words but suddenly I realize just WHO I was talking to. Yikes! My demanding tone of voice and obstinate attitude did not contain much worship, respect, fear or love for the Lord.

I stopped.

I could hear my mother’s voice rise from a deep memory, “Don’t use that tone of voice with me, young lady. Off to your room!”

Then I think I heard God laugh. I asked him for his forgiveness for being so arrogant and disrespectful. And we laughed together.

How you ever listened to the tone of voice you use when speaking to God?

Most of the time I do address him as God should be, but now I wonder just how often my ego takes over with selfish demands.

I pray as if I am competing to “win” some answers or coerce him into obeying me.

Do I think if I whine enough God will just cave in?

Do I think if I am loud enough he will hear me over others?

Do I think if I sound desperate enough he will take pity on me?

OUCH!

God is a God of promise. He promises to draw near when we draw near. He promises to listen to our prayers. He is faithful, loving and trustworthy.

He is God. I am not.

"Many attempts to communicate are nullified by saying too much." Robert Greenleaf

Spiritual Wisdom from a Six Foot, Three and Half Inch White Rabbit

Harvey – a great black and white movie starring Jimmy Stewart, is one of my favorites. Elwood P. Dowd’s best friend is a six foot, three and half inch invisible white rabbit who accompanies him throughout his day helping him. The movie also has some great spiritual lessons too:

Ponder these delightful quotes from Elwood:

"Well, I've wrestled with reality for thirty-five years, Doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it."

"In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant."

“I always have a wonderful time, wherever I am, whoever I'm with.”

“Harvey and I warm ourselves in these golden moments. We came as strangers - soon we have friends. They come over. They sit with us. They drink with us. They talk to us. They tell us about the great big terrible things they've done and the great big wonderful things they're going to do. Their hopes, their regrets. Their loves, their hates. All very large, because nobody ever brings anything small into a bar. Then I introduce them to Harvey, and he's bigger and grander than anything they can offer me. And when they leave, they leave impressed."

God accompanies us in our daily walk too. Now I am not saying God is an invisible tall rabbit, but though others cannot see him with earthly eyes, we see him and know he is with us.

What a wonderful offering to us from God – the gift of imagination. Using our imagination can help us recognize where God is touching our lives.

Active imagination is a “tool in which a bridge is establish between one’s conscious and unconscious self through the use of imagery.” (Alan Jones)

Imagination helps us find the language to express what our souls and mind find as inexpressible. Encounters with the holy are often rooted in symbols and images.

“Imagination is the creative task of making symbols, joining things together in such a way that they throw new light on each other and on everything around them. The imagination is a discovering faculty, a faculty for seeing relationships, for seeing meanings that are special and even quite new.” (Thomas Merton quoted in The Celtic Way of Prayer by Esther de Waal)

How can we use imagination in our search for healthy spirituality?

1. Take a well known Bible story - The Good Samaritan, Peter walking on the water or the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, for example. Quiet yourself and reread the story slowly. Imagine yourself one of the characters: the beaten victim left to die, one of the disciples sitting in the boat watching Peter, the unnamed person walking with a friend toward Emmaus. What are you feeling? What do you see/smell/ taste/ hear? Imagine with great details – the dusty road, the salty sea. What does Jesus say? Imprint his face, his eyes in your memory. Journal about your experience.

2. Try a guided imagery experience. Either have someone read it for you or have one already recorded in a CD player.

3. What is your image of God? A judge? Someone sitting far away. A companion? A friend? Earlier this summer I could easily imagine God as a gardener and now lately I see him in an artist smock painting the tips of the rapidly changing leaves with crimson and gold.

4. When we enter a time of silence in prayer, see in your mind’s eye Jesus sitting next to you. Often I sit in one chair and “see” Jesus in the other chair listening with me, praying for me, healing me with his touch and loving me with his eyes.

How have you used imagination in your spiritual walk? How you used any of these methods to help you feel closer to God?

Weekend Reflections on the Word of God - October 18, 2009

Lectio Divina - a holy reading of the Bible slowly, savoring it, and enjoying it with the Lord – is the spiritual practice of sacred reading of the scriptures. The intention is not to learn or gain information but to deepen our relationship with God. St Benedict encourages us to “to listen with the ear of our hearts.”
Join me once a week for Lectio Divina. I will share a verse and a word that spoke to my heart. Read and listen to the verses here. And gently ask God for a word or phrase that speaks to your heart for that day – that is what lectio means. Once we find that gift, we hold it, meditate, and savor its meaning. This step is called meditation.
Then offer that word back to God in prayer or the third step of oratio. In prayer we allow our real selves to be touched and changed by the word of God.
Finally, we simply rest in the presence of the One who has used His word as a means of inviting us to accept His transforming embrace. No one who has ever been in love needs to be reminded that there are moments in loving relationships when words are unnecessary.
Come into the presence of the Lord.

If you make the Most High your dwelling— even the Lord, who is my refuge-
then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
"Because he loves me," says the Lord, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation." Psalm 91: 9-16

Ever put your name into a verse to personalize the message? Try it:

"Because _____ loves me," says the Lord, "I will rescue ____; I will protect ____, for _____ acknowledges my name. _____will call upon me, and I will answer ____; I will be with _____ in trouble, I will deliver _____ and honor _____.
With long life will I satisfy _____ and show____ my salvation."

What I read this with my name, the phrase “I will honor Jeanie” makes my heart jump. God honoring me? What would that look like?

I shake my head in disbelief that God the Creator takes the time stops all he is doing, to look upon little old me with honor.

How would God pay tribute to mere humans? By holding them in his hands, blessing them, loving them.

I swoop up my little granddaughter, hold her high with both arms and dance around the room. When I look at her, she is all I see. I tenderly stroke her hair. Her tiny fingers wrap around my finger and my heart. I love breathing her in. My whole being fills with joyous celebration for her.

Just imagine – God loves us even more.

What a gift!

Spiritual Priorities

Remember the old Abbot and Costello skit: “Who's on first, What's on second, I Don't Know is on third...”

I have been pondering that question lately: Who’s on first? Who is first in my life? I wish I could say God was all the time but to be honest, that is not always true.

I heard a speaker last week, Rev, Dan Schrock, pastor of the Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship in Goshen Indiana, speak about five attachments we cling to instead of God. Many of these affections are not bad, but just disordered. We hold onto them tightly, putting them in first place – a place reserved only for God.

“Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” Exodus 34:14.

What takes the place of God as priorities in our hearts and lives?

1. Physical objects – that new truck, our laptop, the home we have lived in for 22 years
2. People – This could be a highly regarded mentor, a close friend and of course, our family
3. Images of self – Being competent, your education, your job, being known as an expert.
4. Feelings – discouragement, anxiety, fears
5. Spiritual things – A special prayer practice, a pastor or a church building, even your image of God

I was aware of the first two, but the last three gave me new perspective to what blocks me from God.

I have long felt pride in my self image as an independent woman. Lately God has shown that my self sufficiency is not a strength but a weakness. He is the strength I rely upon in my dependence fully on him, not in my independence on self.

I struggled much of my life with the feelings of discouragement and anxiety. I have allowed them to control my behaviors, when God is the only one really in control.

Spiritually I hang onto the images I have of God instead of answering his invitation to see him in new ways.

God only has eyes for us. His eyes focus on his creation. He invites us to do the same with him. To have him as number one, for God to be our primary focus, in our hearts, minds and lives.

Who’s on first for you?

Teresa of Avila – Perseverance in Prayer

Every life tells a story – a story rich with spiritual lessons. One spiritual practice I follow is learning about other Christians throughout church history and their spiritual journeys. Their lives fill me with hope, guidance and ways to draw closer to God.
My faith tradition – Lutheran – has added to the worship and lectionary readings what they call commemorations – recognition of individuals or events that have been noteworthy in the life of the Church. Our Catholic friends have for centuries honored saints on certain festival days. What I am really enjoying is the expansion of the names on the Lutheran list to include people from all denominations.

Periodically in this blog I will feature someone from this list, a brief biography, quotes, and inspiration from their life.

Teresa of Avila

Many of you may never have heard of this woman who lived in the 1500s. We celebrate her day on October 15th.

Teresa was born in Spain and at the age of fifteen, after her mother's death and the marriage of her oldest sister, Teresa was sent to be educated with Augustinian nuns. She returned home several times suffering severe illnesses, but at the age of 20 Teresa joined the Carmelite Convent of the Incarnation at Avila.

In the 1500s (the century of both Catholic and Protestant Reformations), convents and monasteries were not the astute places we might imagine. Teresa's convent at Avila was no exception. The richer nuns kept servants, wore jewelry, colorful sashes and perfume, and lived in private suites, while their poorer sisters slept in a dormitory. The nuns could travel freely outside the convent.

In 1539, Teresa suffered malaria, which returned several times and left her permanently weakened. During this time, she gave up on prayer, believing herself to be "too ill" to speak to God. Her struggles in prayer continued until she was forty-one. Day by day, she began to pray more effectively and sincerely and with a growing devotion.

Teresa's prayer life eventually grew so profound that she experienced the supernatural and she began a series of remarkable visions, seen "not with the eyes of the body but the eyes of the soul." There have been accounts that she was visited by angels, demons, and apparitions of Christ, and underwent real spiritual ecstasies. She is known as a Christian mystic.

Her advisors ordered her to write about her experiences of the spiritual necessity for prayer and the practice of contemplative prayer. She wrote the Way of Perfection and The Interior Castle plus a number of other works. It was principally for these writings that she was declared a Doctor of the Church four centuries later. The Catholic Church has honored only 33 people, and only three women, with the title Doctor of the Church – quite an honor for Teresa.

In her later years, Teresa accomplished her greatest works. In 1562, she began her reform of the Carmelite order by establishing convents throughout her area. In addition, she founded the order of the Discalced - or barefoot - Carmelites.

Teresa lived each day close to God. Once while she was traveling, her cart tripped and everything, including herself, fell into a muddy river. It is said that the soaking wet and very irritated Teresa looked to heaven and cried, "God, if this is the way you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few of them!" Now that is one close and friendly relationship!

Teresa was an honest and deeply personal writer, courageous reformer, and one who struggled with prayer but persevered through the dry times to find God in new and deeper ways.

Ponder Quotes from Teresa of Avila

“It is love alone that gives worth to all things”

“Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.”

“More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.”

“We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can / namely, surrender our will and fulfill God's will in us.”

"Be gentle to all, and stern with yourself"

Untilled soil, however fertile it may be, will bear thistles and thorns; and so it is with man's mind.”

“I do not fear Satan half so much as I fear those who fear him.”

“About the injunction of the Apostle Paul that women should keep silent in church? Don't go by one text only.”

“Prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God.”

“Each of us has a soul, but we forget to value it. We don’t remember that we are creatures made in the image of God. We don’t understand the great secrets hidden inside."

Let nothing trouble you,

let nothing make you afraid.

All things pass away.

God never changes.

Patience obtains everything.

God alone is enough.

Weekend Reflections on the Word of God - October 11, 2009

Lectio Divina - a holy reading of the Bible slowly, savoring it, and enjoying it with the Lord – is the spiritual practice of sacred reading of the scriptures. The intention is not to learn or gain information but to deepen our relationship with God. St Benedict encourages us to “to listen with the ear of our hearts.”
Join me once a week for Lectio Divina. I will share a verse and a word that spoke to my heart. Read and listen to the verses here. And gently ask God for a word or phrase that speaks to your heart for that day – that is what lectio means. Once we find that gift, we hold it, meditate, and savor its meaning. This step is called meditation.
Then offer that word back to God in prayer or the third step of oratio. In prayer we allow our real selves to be touched and changed by the word of God.
Finally, we simply rest in the presence of the One who has used His word as a means of inviting us to accept His transforming embrace. No one who has ever been in love needs to be reminded that there are moments in loving relationships when words are unnecessary.

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

Seems like a simple command Lord – be fair, to love and know you are in the one in charge, right?

But life is NOT always fair.

I remember my daughter stomping down the hallway, slamming her bedroom door, crying out, “It’s not fair!”

Life’s not fair, Lord and I want to scream that too.

Where is the justice in a world of abused children, raped women and murdered men?
It is difficult to act justly in an unjust world.

Life is unfairly bent against any justice – an uphill unwinnable battle.

Yet you show me this by being Love
Yet you require justice by being Justice

To act justly.
Each act
Each thought
Each moment

To do my best to be fair, honest and honorable, even when it is NOT fair.
To do what is right, even when it is difficult or especially when it is difficult.

All you ask of me… no it is more than asking, it is a requirement. I must do this.
I must act in fairness, love overflowing with mercy for others and for myself and humbly knowing you are in charge.

A holy requisite.

Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus – A Favorite Hymn and a Contemplative Practice

You become what you think about. (Earl Nightingale).

What do you focus on?

So often I see only my problems, my faults, my limitations. My ego leads my thinking and behavior down wrong paths with a dimming flashlight. I focus on my circumstances, not my blessings.

I know the answer. The ironic solution lies in my life verse from Hebrews 12:2: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”

The old hymn, “Turn your Eyes upon Jesus” says it all:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in his wonderful face.

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.

Did you realize the lady who wrote this wonderful hymn, Helen Howarth Lemmel was blind? She had much heartache in her life including being deserted by her husband when she lost her sight.

Lemmel could have focused on her losses, yet she spent her life in music including writing over 500 hymns. A woman without sight saw the vision of how to truly live: with eyes on Jesus.

Some call this spiritual practice – contemplative gazing - resting only within the arms of God. Not showering God with “gimme, gimme gimme” and only an occasional thanks, but quietly letting his spirit seep into our hearts.

I plan to try this practice this week. Join me. Find your favorite picture of Christ and just gaze at it prayfully for 5- 10 minutes. See where God invites you.

We become what we focus on.

The Wonder of God’s Visible and Invisible World

When we traveled through Yellowstone this summer, the scenery overwhelmed me. I stood speechless in front of God’s incomprehensible creation of radiant colors in the translucent water pools and rising ghosts of eerie white steam against extraordinary blue skies.

Behold the wonder of God.

The planet we stand on is a mere glimpse of his creation, a small sliver of what he has made. Just imagine for a moment what God has created that we cannot see.

God’s invisible handwork.

As a nurse, I know full well the intricate marvel of the human body. The multitude of well organized mini-components working inside each of the estimated 100 trillion cells that makes up our bodies.

Behold the wonder of God

The Human Cell

The power of a tiny microorganism to bring us mighty humans down. I am fascinated by the beauty of the viruses and bacteria who unfortunately spread havoc and fear in our world:

Behold the wonder of God

The Flu Virus
Our thoughts about the universe – its vastness, its creation and its dying – changed dramatically with the Hubble Telescope images. God’s world is alive, expanding and ever evolving:


Behold the wonder of God

These photographs humble me. I realize once again how little I am and how insignificant my ups and downs really matter in this immense cosmos.

Yet God tells us he loves each of us. He created every one of us. He counts the number of the hairs on our head and has our names inscribed in the palm of his hand. WOW

My inadequate and weak words fail to fully express my awe. My heart leaps with praise - thanking the God of All Wonders – both visible and invisible.

Yellowstone photo taken by me, Other photos from Google Images

Weekend Reflections on the Word of God - October 4, 2009

Lectio Divina - a holy reading of the Bible slowly, savoring it, and enjoying it with the Lord – is the spiritual practice of sacred reading of the scriptures. The intention is not to learn or gain information but to deepen our relationship with God. St Benedict encourages us to “to listen with the ear of our hearts.”
Join me once a week for Lectio Divina. I will share a verse and a word that spoke to my heart. Read and listen to the verses here. And gently ask God for a word or phrase that speaks to your heart for that day – that is what lectio means. Once we find that gift, we hold it, meditate, and savor its meaning. This step is called meditation.
Then offer that word back to God in prayer or the third step of oratio. In prayer we allow our real selves to be touched and changed by the word of God.
Finally, we simply rest in the presence of the One who has used His word as a means of inviting us to accept His transforming embrace. No one who has ever been in love needs to be reminded that there are moments in loving relationships when words are unnecessary.

Hear my prayer, O Lord God Almighty; listen to me, O God of Jacob. Selah
Look upon our shield, O God; look with favor on your anointed one.
Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor;
No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you. Psalm 84: 8-12 (NIV)

I would rather be a doorkeeper.

I wonder what it would be like to be God’s doorkeeper.
To see all who comes and goes.
What they look like and what they carry to God?
I wonder if God’s doorkeeper ever puts her ear against the door and quietly eavesdrops.
Does she peek in?
Does she ever enter herself?

Lord, at times I am your doorkeeper.
I stand half way, on the threshold of fully committing to you.
One foot in. One foot turned away, set to run back to my wicked ways.
I linger around the edges of your goodness, wanting more yet afraid to ask
The Psalmist sings, “Blessed is the man who trusts in you.”
Help me to trust you more – to run through your door into your waiting arms.

Seeing Myself through my Eyes or through God’s Eyes?

Last Monday’s post about feeling shocked, awkward and embarrassed after watching myself in home movies struck a cord with many readers. Comments, emails and twitter responses flew in.

“I can most certainly identify with your horror at seeing yourself in your vacation movies. I am very disappointed in me - and I'm sure God is disappointed in the way I have taken care of the body He bestowed on me.”

“Our church broadcasts our services on local access channel - I cannot bear to watch myself.

“Why do you think I have a yahoo avatar instead of a photo of the genuine me????”

So I have been pondering this all week.

I wonder if this is truer for women than men.
What is it inside of so many of us that cause this lack of self acceptance?
What does this say about how we deeply feel about our self worth?
Why can’t I accept who I see in the mirror and love her?

I work with stained glass as a hobby. In my garage workshop, I have bits and pieces of broken, shattered glass. Some have sharp, irregular edges, some are quite small, and many have collected dirt and smudges.

Yet when I put all the pieces together in a mosaic or stained glass piece, even the worst looking, small insignificant piece has a role in the final work of art.

I think the lesson God wants me to learn in this jarring realization of how I appear to others was to quit looking at myself through human eyes. I am a work in progress – a shattered, smudged, sharped edged piece of fragile glass. Yet in the hands of the Master Artist, the end result, as seen through His eyes, is beautiful.

God understand how we feel and holds us in his grace-filled hands.
God forgives us when we blatantly abuse or ungratefully criticize our lives – a gift from him.
God loves us without hesitation – no matter what we look like, what we say or how we act.
He loves us!

His eyes only see the end product – his masterpiece.

Genesis 1:26-27 says we are made in His image, the very image of God. Psalm 139:13-16 says we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and all the days of our lives were written in God’s book before we were ever born, confirming God’s prior knowledge and plan for our lives. Ephesians 1:4 says God chose His children before the foundations of the earth were ever formed.

It’s not about feelings, it is about faith.
It’s not about what I see, but what God sees.
It’s not about me, it is about God.

When God does something, it is a masterpiece! We are God’s masterpiece.