The best of the lot

I was driving to the office recently, down a street called Oak (despite there being no oak trees that I can see) when I looked to my right and in front of a cafe (New Orleans still has cafes) sat a mother and a child.

I assume that's who they were because of the huge smile on the very young boy's face. Whatever mother was saying was causing a big ol' smile.

I wonder if somewhere in the conversation she got around to saying those magic words, "I love you?"

I'll bet that happened.

In scripture, the words that cause a big ol' grin are many. I select these: You are saved by God's grace because of your faith. This salvation is God's gift. It's not something you possessed. It's not something you did that you can be proud of. Instead, we are God's accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives."    

Another translation ways we are God's masterpieces.      

Imagine that, friends. In a world that has the incredible Grand Canyon (so wonderful that it has the world grand sitting right in the middle of its name), in a world that has the sun in the morning and the moon at night, in a world that has cotton candy and bubble gum and E.T. and cake and ice cream, we -- WE -- are his accomplishments, his masterpieces, his great and glorious work.

Think of this: He created a universe beyond understanding and beyond simplicity. A sky filled with uncountable stars is his playground. Yet, his masterpiece is you.

You might feel overweight, you might feel old or too young or you might feel out of place, but you are the masterpiece in the cosmic box of crayons.

Nothing He does, and nothing He He might do will replace you, and what He loves in you. That love is incomparable, irreplaceable, beyond measure or imagination and certainly it is unconditional. That love is his greatest accomplishment, and it is all about you.

Get that again. His greatest accomplishment is, well, you. Us. Our crowd. Those not of our crowd. Those who look, and think, and talk, and vote like us and those who do not. Read that again, if you will. Those who don’t look and think and talk and vote like us, those who could be very reasonably called an enemy still are the ones we must love.

As I write this, there are folks we’ve declared to be evil who are tearing up Iraq. Evil. Hear that? Evil.

Yet Jesus said we are to love them. Love them. Though they breathe out violence and inhale hatred, we are supposed to love them. Though they kill and mangle innocence, we of the Kingdom of God are supposed to not meet the worst of humanity with the worst we can manage.

Because we are the masterpieces, the accomplishments, the workmanship of God.

He carved mountains, and made your nose.

He took a mighty finger and dug trenches we call rivers, and shaped your ears.

He squeezed together continents, and blew air into your lungs.

He made the best of the world, and the rest of you.

When you rose this morning, with matted pillow hair and morning breath that would stifle a skunk, did you realize you were such a big deal?

You are.

God loves you, this I know, because the Bible tells me so.

Think of it this way. If His greatest accomplishment is indeed you, then you must start taking care of his greatest accomplishment. You (and I) must start living a life worth of Christ's gospel -- as a man named Paul wrote. Paul wrote that we should do that because "God has granted you the privilege, not only of believing in Christ but also of suffering for Christ's sake."       

To review ...

God...

Masterpiece...

Live...

Life...

Large.

Got that?

Yeah, I figured not.

The hardest part of all this is not accepting it. That's not exactly a lark or a walk in the park, because it's a trial. It's hard. It's difficult. It's not something anyone would choose necessarily.

What it is, however, is a child looking dreamingly into the eyes of a mother (or a father) with joy being the only prerequisite. It's the parent looking into the eyes of the very young child and saying quietly but firmly, "I love you. I will always love you. Even unto the end of the age."

That's the way to start your morning. That's Christianity at its best, for its best is you.