“For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance…”
Ephesians 2:10
If you were painting the canvas of your life, what would the landscape look like? What would the terrain, the environment, reveal about your journey? Would it be any different than what it appears today?
I find humor in God often and look to the heavens and just smile. This morning before reading the readings for this fourth Sunday of Lent, I was praying for my daughters. My prayer was not for what I want for them or what I think their stepping stones should look like but for what God has prepared for them.
As a parent, we want to protect and sometimes take the paintbrush and put our own colors and landscape on the canvas of our children’s lives. Just like my own journey, my own canvas, God has already begun to paint theirs. His palette of colors lay before Him as He dips His paint brush into each hue. Who better to paint the landscape for them than God? He knows exactly who they are. What their talents are? And how to best use them to accomplish His plans.
What is my job as a mother?
My job is first and foremost to love them. In loving them, I guide them closer to God so that they can hear His call in the darkness. It’s in their own listening that they will discern who God created them to be and what their own purpose in this world will be. My job is to allow God to continue His work, to paint the scenes in their lives and shape them into that scene. As He paints it, I watch not as a critic but as an admirer of His work.
When it appears that the paintbrush has been placed next to the canvas, He calls me to engage and listen to them. These are the moments where He asks me to participate in their journey, guiding them closer to Him through the love He pours into me.
Each of us has a canvas, our canvas is our journey and God has all the hues ready to apply the paint as we walk this journey. The landscape may not be one you would have chosen for yourself. But He works day and night to get the hues perfect for each intricate detail that He applies to the canvas of your life. You are His handiwork. If the artist that created you loves you so much to send His only son to save you, you can be certain He has laid before you a painting that is a masterpiece. When the light shines upon it, the spectator viewing it will say clearly this was done by God.
Perhaps our invitation today is to rest knowing that we are a masterpiece.
Lord, I am Your masterpiece. I ask that my life reveal your handiwork. I rest today in Your loving embrace of the image of Christ in me.
Women Who Walk By Faith 
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