Something strikes me as beautiful and I want to paint it!
In my mind's eye, I can always envision the breath-taking 'could be' and I dive in... sketching, laying it out, choosing the colours.
Step by step, I paint.
Every single time I paint, I am aware of how my skills fall so very short of my vision. What is so remarkable in Creation... that cloud, those colours, that shade... it never quite matches or lives up to the beauty that I desire to represent.
But... still. Step by step, I paint.
As I have been painting now a few short years, I have learned that patience is a key ingredient. Grace, also is needed... where there is a wrong stroke or a wrong colour... grace and creativity are needed to compensate and shift.
God reminds me today that I am His masterpiece... his 'poema' (Greek word in Ephesians 2:10). His poem! He is writing, and painting, and creating me continuously.
Just as I sketch with a vision--- so He sees Stephanie as she will be, should be, ...is. He starts with a sketch. His ways are perfect. His skills masterful. His ways good.
Just as I paint this bit, then that bit, waiting, ...layering and adding. Shading and shifting. Taking mistakes and turning them with my brush into purposeful strokes... So, He is constantly "completing His good work in me" (Philippians 1:6)
These paintings of mine... they aren't done yet. So much can be added to or 'fixed' or tweaked...
I am not done yet.
I am not done yet. Or, shall I say... He is not done with me yet!
He is not done painting. The story is not over. The poem is not complete. He still has much colour to add, much shading to do...
I am reminded that He always starts with a vision of beauty. Knit together in my mother's womb, on purpose, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. All my days planned, known, and shaped by His love. (Psalm 139).
You, too. He sees. He is shading. He is working. He is painting.
Every. Single. One of us.
His poema. His masterpiece. His loved, beloved creation.
Lean in and let Him have His way. Tell Him you want Him to continue to make you a thing of beauty.
It always begins with a vision of beauty!