(One of a Collection of Letters from Me to My Children)
My Dearest Loves:
Imagine a delicate, graceful and beautifully shaped porcelain pitcher: slender handle arcing like a young tree, elegant details carved around the opening. Picture an exotic lantern made of thinly hammered metal, beams of sparkling light glowing through each intricate, carefully designed aperture in the gleaming metal. Think about a perfectly balanced, exquisitely forged sword, deadly but beautiful, sharpened so well that a piece of silk falling on it would be cut with a sound like a whisper.
Picture anything put together, crafted, built, formed, shaped, or created by an artisan. Would anyone ever exclaim in wonder over the beauty or artistry of that piece and then behave as though the object itself was responsible for getting itself to that state, or applaud the piece and overlook the one who made it? Of course not. It would be ludicrous to even think that the object deserved the credit of the artistry, wisdom, and skill of the artisan. The object is beautiful not because it worked its own loveliness, but because it accomplished its role of being yielding, obedient, and faithful.
Any piece of porcelain clay must be soft and willing to yield and change according to the will and pressure of the hands shaping it. But first, it is kept in the dark in a restrictive container. When it is taken out, it must endure dizzily spinning in place for a time, having cold water thrown on it at any given moment, and be pushed, pummeled, and shaped without regard to feelings. It has no control over the artisan’s possible choice to suddenly squash it all flat and start again. It is gouged and carved until everything inside itself is emptied to make a hollow space available for something else which it does not choose. Any excess is cut away, impressions and borders are pinched and pressed. Designs are stamped, painted onto or cut into its smooth surface without consulting it first.
Then it is placed in a kiln of incredible heat for a time. Should it decide to hop out of the kiln, or manage to turn the knob down on the heat to something far more comfortable, it would render itself far less useful, as it would be untempered and unable to withstand the purpose which the artisan designed it for. If the clay piece grew angry in the fire and refused to endure the heat, cursing the hand that placed it there, disaster would follow: it would shatter.
A piece of metal is heated and reheated also in a restrictive container, any impurities bubbling up patiently scooped out under a watchful eye and careful hand. Once solid, it is heated yet again and pounded and molded between two unyielding surfaces, experiencing both the inevitable thud of the mallet and the immobility of the anvil. If it is to be a weapon, after the heating and melting, waiting in the fire, enduring the blows, it also undergoes the grinding grit of the whetstone and the cold trickle of water for another lengthy time.
If the metal object to be created is a lantern, it endures being stamped and pierced, pieces of itself cut out. It is also bent and formed into a shape it did not choose, hollowed and with an empty space. The strength and usefulness of the metal comes from its lack of impurities and its ability to endure both the heating and the beating. By the metal yielding to the pressing and cutting, the scars where pieces of itself were carved out become the apertures intended to show gleams of light. (Like the song from the group Switchfoot: “The wound is where the light shines through[1].”)
Generally, my lovelies, the finer the quality and more exquisite the beauty of a finished piece correlates to the greater the amount of time invested and the more intense the workmanship put into it. At the conclusion, the craftsman receives the honor of the outcome of his labor. His wisdom and skill are applauded, and his creative genius is admired and found inspiring, his work all the more valuable simply because he was the creator.
In the same way, you each are an incomplete masterpiece in the hand of God. Whatever the Creator has chosen for you to become, He has done so with an eye of flawless taste and a wisdom beyond comprehension. He has chosen for you what will not only bring Him the most glory and honor at your completion, but what will give you the most joy by fulfilling what you were created to be. He is the great Artisan who knows precisely what riches He can bring from the raw material we each start out as. The unique treasure we each will become will not resemble another masterpiece, and there are no repeat works.
There comes a great freedom to my heart in recognizing that there is a Master Craftsman at work, and He is not me. There is a joy and a comfort in the peace of a trusting rest in His hands, knowing:
1. He is actively and creatively working on me. I am in His hands every day as long as I choose to stay there. (Psalms 138:8; Philippians 2:13)
2.) He is excited to make of me something uniquely beautiful and glorious. My part is not to seek that for myself, but to yield to His purpose and design. (Romans 12:1, Romans 8:29) In Proverbs, Wisdom speaks, describing how she rejoiced in God’s skill and presence as He established the earth and created all things (Proverbs 8:30-31). We need to be like Wisdom and also take delight and pour out our worship to God as we observe Him working and refining both ourselves and others.
3.) He has already placed in me the essentials to fulfill the purpose He intends for me. I don’t need to look to anyone or anywhere else to find the fulfillment and meaning I need – only to Him. (Job 23:10, Philippians 1:6)
So guess what, my chickadees? All the hopes and big dreams and desires (large and small) that you have? You can take them all to Him, like a trusting little child pouring out a box of treasures in his daddy’s lap, and ask Him to go through them all with you, knowing He will not laugh or mock you, but will lovingly hold you and them, and talk interestedly with you about them. He made your heart, and He designed you to long for certain things, to hope for specific goals. It’s a sign of your own uniqueness and inherent qualities that He wants to use to shape you into the masterpiece He knows you to be. You can trust Him to hold your dreams and desires for you, and when you ask Him to help you decide which to keep as actual treasures and which aren’t as valuable, you can be sure He will gently guide your heart to making those decisions.
Even better, ask Him to give you more! Ask Him to give you the enormous, exhilaratingly huge dreams and hopes that only He could make real. Ask Him to increase your trust in Him, your understanding of His wisdom and power, and invite Him to take the wheel of your imagination for the wildest, most amazing trip of your life. Our God is the Giver of Dreams! He is the Creator with the hugest imagination ever! He gets giddy with joy over you (Zephaniah 3:17), and His plans for you are unsurpassed in wonder and beauty. “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
Our greatest joy and our deepest pleasure in life will come, not from gaining attention, approval, or acclaim from others, but in discovering our greatest purpose: an intimate, loving closeness with the One who created us. And as we grow in the utter satisfaction and fulfillment He gives, we will only continue to grow in our own unique beauty and glory as we become more and more what He in His infinite loving wisdom made each of us to be.
This is the end for which He has created and continues to create us: to hold such an inexpressible joy and delight in God that we are filled up and overflowing with such force and abandon we can’t help but influence this world. He makes us to use us, to illuminate and pour out wherever we are, showing the truth of His glorious, masterful wisdom, knowledge, and the inherent Beauty He is.
My darlings, please remember: what you become is less important than who you become. A people who actively adore and thrill at the nearness of their Creator, showing joy and peace while on the spinning potter’s wheel or enduring the flame and the whetstone, singing to the hammer’s rhythm – Such a people of God would be heart-stoppingly powerful in their faithful, glorious revelation of a God who is worthy of such trust.
You and I are truly the living stones that build up the temple of God, both separately and collectively, chosen to house His Holy Spirit and reveal His character to the world (1 Peter 2:5). When we joyously submit to His working in us, teachable and yielded to His design and plan, we display His fingerprints on our hearts. We show His signature on our lives, declaring we are His and He is ours, joining with the beauty of Creation in asserting God’s mastery and craftsmanship (Psalm 19:1). I think His fingerprints on me are more valuable and beautiful than inlaid diamonds, because it means His hands held me and He formed me, and there is nothing more wonderful and precious than that knowledge.
May you and I remain faithful in the flame, holding on to the hope we have, delighting in the Artisan who delights in us. May you believe the love in His eyes as He looks upon you, and rest with joy in the nail-scarred hands that hold you, knowing you are His precious masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10).
All my love always, Mom
[1] “Where the Light Shines Through”, Where the Light Shines Through. Vanguard Records. July 8, 2016.
