Perfectly created
My granddaughter is visiting. I ask her what she would like to play, and her answer is: crafts and painting. So, we make our way to the office, where she gathers everything, we need for her “project.” And then we sit next to each other while she instructs me on how to carry out the idea. My granddaughter is a born leader—we’ve known that for a long time. Once the folding is done and each of us is holding a paper kite in our hands, it’s time for phase two of the project: painting. This is where my inadequacy when it comes to “painting” becomes apparent. Because even though we both have similar ideas when it comes to giving the kite a face, my painting ends up looking rather amateurish. “You can paint better than me,” I admit to the six-year-old. “Really?” she says. I notice that she is pleased with the praise, and it’s not a lie at all.
Time and again in my life, I have looked admiringly at other people’s drawings and paintings and wished I could paint a little better. And that’s just one of the things I’d like to be better at. How often have I wished I could entertain guests with ease and cook for 10 people without much effort? Or remember things, events, and dates for a long time, or have an incredibly broad general knowledge, or courageously and fearlessly overcome all the big and small hurdles of everyday life…
But that’s not who I am, I can’t do those things, and I will never be able to acquire most of them because they are simply not part of who “Karen” is.
Last week, I discovered a new song with lyrics that touched me. It’s by Megan Woods, and part of the chorus goes like this:
„The truth is I am my Father’s child
I make Him proud and I make Him smile
I was made in the image of a perfect King
He looks at me and wouldn’t change a thing…”
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fSVWVYkh2A&list=RD5fSVWVYkh2A&start_radio=1)
“He looks at me and wouldn’t change a thing…” That’s hard for me to believe, given the many suggestions for improvement I would have if I think about myself…
And yet, despite all my uncertainty and doubts about myself, I can hold on to the fact that God, the Creator and Father, created me, loves me as I am, and would not change anything about me. In his eyes, I am “perfectly made.” That encourages me to keep coming back to this truth.
