created

i am a packrat.

as much as i'd like to believe i am a minimalist, the truth of the matter is that i keep things. school papers, art projects, cards, letters, journals... 

i hold on to things that are important to me. 

most of the things i hold on to are things that i have created. i don't want to let go of them. they have meaning to me. i care for them because they are part of me. they are my creation. 

and as i thought about this the other day, the truth of God's love hit me. 

if i can care so much about a thought, an idea, a piece of art, how much more does my Father love me simply because He created me? how important are we to Him simply because He is our Author? how much value do we hold in His eyes simply because we are crafted from His hands? 

we are the creation of His thoughts, His ideas, His imagination... we are created in His image. 

 

(gen1:27) God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  

we are created in His image, and He didn't just leave it at that! He has a plan for our lives. He has created us with reason and purpose... for each of our days.  

(ps139:1-5,13-17) O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. you know when i sit and when i rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. you discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. you hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. . . for you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. i praise you because i am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, i know that full well. my frame was not hidden from you when i was made in the secret place. when i was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. how precious to me are your thoughts, O God! how vast is the sum of them!  

may we seek His purpose for each of our days; may His thoughts be of priceless value to us; may the creation overflow with praise for the Creator.

come together, right now, over me

reconcile: (v. tr.) To reestablish a close relationship between. To settle or resolve. To bring (oneself) to accept: He finally reconciled himself to the change in management. To make compatible or consistent: reconcile my way of thinking with yours. (v. intr.) To reestablish a close relationship, as in marriage: The estranged couple reconciled after a year. To become compatible or consistent: The figures would not reconcile. this word has been rolling around in my head. at work i read a letter from a man who writes to us regularly, asking each time for prayer for the healing and growth of his marriage. but today his words were different. today he was praising the Lord because his wife has moved back home and has committed to working on their marriage. today his words were filled with hope, faith and joy. as i continued reading others' letters a theme began to emerge. people seeking to once again be close with their children, their families, their friends... we are broken people with broken relationships leading broken lives. we yearn for resolution, for acceptance, for peace, for reconciliation. to be reconciled with those we love, maybe even those we hate, with nature, with ourselves, with God. but are we really capable of bringing about reconciliation? ...therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! all this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. and he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. we are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. we implore you on Christ's behalf: be reconciled to God...