Me:  Prodigal, What are you doing!

 

Prodigal:  Taking a closer look at this piece of art work made out of bottles.

 

Me:  I have not seen anything like this before.

 

Prodigal:  Yeah and that is why I wanted a closer look.

 

Me:  I have story about art work that you might enjoy.

 

Judith Couchman talks about her art in her house.

A beautiful work of art sits in my upstairs bedroom, the kind that beckons attention, evokes emotion, and lingers in the mind.  It is an exquisite piece of pottery that woos and teases passerby.  Half vase because of its small pedestal bottom and half pot due to its wide girth and mouth, this creation embodies the word unique.

A narrow-eyed pragmatist might examine this creation and announce, “What good is it?  It doesn’t do anything.”  And yes, I could fill the pot with pine cones for tennis balls or jewelry or whatever–just to assign it something to do–but that would detract from its intrinsic beauty.  All things considered, I value that pottery’s form more than its function.

This is how God feels about us.  We are His beautiful and thoughtful creation.  Like one-of-a-kind pottery, above all else He treasures our innate worth.  We are immensely significant, and our value does not depend on anything we do, think, say, feel, earn, inherit or look like.  It is because we exist as God’s creation.

 

A beautiful work of art is sitting and reading this right now.  This piece of art is you!  God was there when you were made.  He formed you in His own image.  He has been with you this whole time.  Just stop with all the reasons you cannot be beautiful.  God sees that you are!

I need God’s grace as much as you do.  Just because grace is needed doesn’t mean that you are not wonderfully made.  I look and all I see is beauty and I see how significant you are to God.  I see how God uses you in so many people’s lives.  I value how you are made and who you are.  This is something that I respect in you and is present even now.

 

I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.

Jeremiah 31:3

 

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org