Psalm 139:13-18
Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I’d even lived one day.
Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
God, I’ll never comprehend them!
I couldn’t even begin to count them—
any more than I could count the sand of the sea.
Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
If you visited my laundry/craft room, you would see stacks of projects. In my head, I can see how they will look when they are finished. When I complete a garment… or a greeting card or whatever I am making, I know every stitch or piece of paper that went into it. I see every seam… each layer… and all the steps that went into its creation. Sometimes my projects work out as planned… sometimes they don’t. Once in a while, something turns out so badly that I have to totally scrap it and start over! And more than once, I’ve made something for myself that I disliked so much that it rarely – if ever – was worn. Every time I put it on, I saw all of the flaws… or it just didn’t look and feel right.
Maybe you have had a similar experience. Many of us have envisioned a recipe in our heads that sounded delicious. I recently read a recipe on Pinterest for a pumpkin smoothie. It sounded wonderful! I could almost taste it as I read through the ingredients and process. But I have to tell you, I was terribly disappointed with the finished product, and I don’t care to make another one… ever!
It’s a beautiful thing to know that God planned and envisioned us long before we were ever conceived. He designed, planned, and created every “seam” in the garment that is our body – each “layer” that is the greeting card of our personality – all of the ingredients that make up the “recipe” of our lives. And the coolest part of all is that He loves every single thing about us. There may be “stitches” that are a little uneven…a crooked “caption” here or there… or even an off-putting “taste” occasionally. Still, God loves us. He looks past the flaws and imperfections and says, “This is My creation. Perfection and purpose lie within him/her. There may be bumps in the road and even a few wrong turns… but at the end of the day, I know how this ends - and I am in love with My handiwork.”
No one will ever love you like God. Your parents may have planned for your birth. They may have thought about you and dreamed of your conception and delivery. They may have nurtured you and given you every advantage as you grew and developed. You may have friends, relatives and/or a significant other who adore you and make you feel important each and every day. But none of these compares to the immeasurable, unconditional love, grace, mercy, forgiveness and acceptance that God offers us every single minute of the day.
God would never “scrap” us like an ill-fitting garment or a distasteful recipe… yet many of us are ready to toss Him to the side at every turn. Our “justifications” run the gamut from disappointments over events in our lives and prayers we felt were unanswered – or answered in a way we did not like… a desire to have our own way in all things – at all times…or accession to outside forces that convince us that God is not real – that He could not possibly love us so amazingly. Regardless of the reasons, we can choose to correct our course. We can acknowledge God’s presence – and His power. We can say, “Thank You, LORD… for everything!”
One of my favorite things to do is to take an old garment that has begun to show wear – or has been donated to the thrift store – and repurpose it to create something new and useful. You may have somehow fallen into the “thrift store bin. You may feel useless, unloved… or separated from God. The good news is that He can repurpose you… He planned for this and knows exactly what to do to get you back on track. All you have to do is to choose Him… to ask GOd to let you rise in the morning and live always with Him. He will handle the rest.
God choose you… have you chosen Him in return?
©2013 Debbie Robus
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