I decided to take this shelf from my room and paint it, I didn't want it to look like everything else anymore. I wanted to make it BEAUTIFUL. Step one...I had to sand it because paint sticks better on a rough surface. Our Creator doesn't just rush into painting, He has to sand us first. This is where the hard times and the hurts play a part. Although it's hard to believe sometimes, God knows what He's doing when He lets us hurt. This gets us ready for the beauty awaiting us later on.
Step two... painting. As I was painting, I was slowly making sure each stroke was something worth looking at, I took my time perfecting each small detail. God CARES about every detail, about every brush stroke on the canvas of our lives. He takes His time, seeing all the while that the end result is beautiful.
When people look at this shelf, they won't be telling the shelf that it did a great job sitting there while I painted it...the shelf didn't do anything, I did all the work. Any beauty that comes from this journey cannot ever be credited to me or you. When people look at me, they see either a reflection of what God has done or a reflection of where I have tried to take the brush from Him and finish myself. The latter is the uglier side that should be put against the wall because nobody wants to see it. God is the true Artist. HE is the One who deserves all the glory, the One who chose to create something with this wretched soul, the One who looks in a crowd of millions and deeply cares about this one self-absorbed, sinful human.
I am so far away from being worthy to be so deeply loved by God but I am so thankful that He loves me enough to mold me into something more beautiful than what I am now.
"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:6
