Michelangelo

Michelangelo
I was watching a show the other night on Michelangelo. It was amazing to see how he made the David Statue. The block of marble he used was one that had been quarried years ago but was not considered of value and had been exposed to the elements for years. But, Michelangelo saw something in the imperfect stone- he saw a masterpiece. I love this quote by him, "In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it."

Last night in my small group, I was struck by this same thought from God's point of view. It is not a new thought or even very deep but something we all need to be reminded of at different times on our journey. God takes our imperfections, our rough walls, the things other people don't find value in and creates a masterpiece- not because of us- but because He is the ulitmate artist. At His hands, with His chisel- we become something astounding.

Putting ourselves in His hands can be the difficult part- releasing ourselves to the artist for Him to form us, refine us, and mold us can be hard, painful and beautiful at the same time.
But, I love that God sees things in us that no one else can see. He knows our hearts, the parts of stone that needs to be worked around, the elements of our life that have created rough walls that have to be carefully hewn. He knows how hard to chisel to create a masterpiece- even breaking off parts if necessary.

Through God's love, through Jesus' sacrifice, through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives- we are made into something beautiful and of eternal value. Praise be to God that he loves us to keep working on us- that he sees something that only His eyes can see and yet he wants the whole world to see us as he does!
Philippians 1:6
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
2 Cor. 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!