The Plumbline

I am learning to build stuff from wood, but trust me on this one, the design may be good, but the execution of the measurements may not always be. Hence the little saying in woodworking: "Measure twice, cut once." I have made some stuff that looked great, but when we went to use it as it was designed, it was too narrow, too wide, too long, or too wobbly. All the work that went into it was grand. I took great care to sand, stain, and finish the piece, only to find it didn't 'measure up'. I wonder how many times we think we are building "good stuff" into our lives, only to look back and see how little we actually "built" that was all that 'good'. We always seem to think the endeavors of our lives are totally worthwhile - but in retrospect, how many of them really produced what we originally believed possible? The most amazing thing happens though when we set out on an endeavor with God - usually MORE than we believed possible happens! I...

It was Dickens who reminded us that, "the whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists." (Charles Dickens) The 'created thing' is loved before it even exists - think on that one a little bit and you might just begin to feel a little differently about yourself. In fact, when you realize that God saw you fully formed, created you specifically for his purposes, and enjoyed you even before he created you - that is the beginning of wisdom! We may not fully understand how he sees each of us, but we can stand assured that he sees us as we are often incapable of seeing ourselves. Just as you’ll never understand the mystery of life forming in a pregnant woman, So you’ll never understand the mystery at work in all that God does. ( Ecclesiastes 11:5 MSG ) What is the 'all that God does' in your life? This is a pretty open-ended qu...