Holy Week is fast upon us.....which got me thinking...

that God is the ultimate quilter. He takes joy in the act of creation and desires to share it with those He loves. (That would be us.). He has given us all the things that we need to make a beautiful life. He gives us the materials and time and the freedom to do as we please. (Don't ask me how He does it. Be glad that I am not Him. I wouldn't be able to take my fingers out of the pie.). AND He leaves us to do it.

All of us make an effort to do something with what He gives us. Our efforts are as varied as snowflakes, and none of them are worthy of the materials He has given us. It is inevitable that we bring the pieces pack to Him. Tattered and torn with uneven and puckered seams, the bits we offer Him are a shambles - not even good enough for the dust bin. But how can you toss something that God gave you? How do you fix the unfixable and make it a worthy offering?

 

You can't. No matter how hard you work, or how long you study, or how many sacrifices you make, you will always be human and He will always be God. He can't accept product that is below par....He is God, we're not. That isn't going to change.

 

BUT that is okay. He loves us. He loves us so much that He sent His only son to make a way. Jesus was born, lived, and was crucified on a cross as a man so that being like us, we would understand what he came to say. He died and was raised from death so that we would understand that what he said was true. He is the life, and the way. He is God. As a man he is approachable. As God he is able.

All of the nasty bits and pieces; all of the broken promises and poor excuses; all of our inadequacies are made perfect in Jesus. He takes our unsightly UFOs and turns them into holy and acceptable offerings. We don't have to do a thing but let him. (Galatians 2:16)

This is the thing that I struggle the most with.....the letting him. I stubbornly want to do things my own way. I totally understand that my way is less than perfect. I understand that my imperfect works add up to a big pile of imperfectness. No matter how big it gets, it is still a pile of trash compared to the glory that is God. I understand that He can do a much better job with the materials at hand. What I don't understand is why He would ask me to participate in the first place.

The best I've ever come up with is LOVE. He loves me that much. He loves us sooooo much that he would rather sacrifice his only son, than be separated from our efforts. He orchestrated all of time and history to make a way for mankind to be forever in the His presence... in spite of our stubborn imperfections.

 

Jesus gives us the freedom to try....to run to our Abba with our crayon drawings and wonky quilt blocks and say, "Look what I made for you!". God is a good daddy who looks at our efforts through Jesus's eyes and sees something precious. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

May the fantastic freedom of Christ be yours this Easter and always,

Cindy