October 18
DebDay 218: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
It's easy for us, in our quest for ease, to look back on our histories and experiences, and wish some of it hadn't happened. Someone once wrote, "Life is full of regrets."
Yet, if the Lord is the Creator and Author of our lives, then everything that happens, every season we encounter, every hardship and challenge must have worth. All of the goods and bad's can (and must) add up.
My wife is in a career that is the result of two prior careers that fit together to form her perfect fitness to her present job role. I have functionally had three careers, all of which imprint what I do now.
In times past, I did not necessarily see beyond the present, nor did I naturally assume anything along the lines of, "What I'm learning today; this new skill, or experience I am having will be so handy later." But it did. It all did. And does.
Isn't it funny that when we each look back on our lives, we remember the hard times. Perhaps not with any fondness, but we do assign to those times a value. Maybe the value is limited to, "I survived it." Or we look back and see how we grew through the experience.
Psalm 139:14 says, "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."
The context of this verse, of course, is respective to the nine months of God creating our human physical and mental selves in our mother's womb. But the wording of this leaves room for the notion of the ongoing creation of our social, emotional, spiritual selves too.
We're all predisposed to look for ease in our lives. We don't go looking for trouble if we can avoid it. But it is interesting how when we do look back, especially at the hard times, we see how we gained something.
Perhaps another notation of not only God's providence, but also His creative hand in our ongoing development.
And, none of us know fully how todays experiences will imprint something on tomorrow's calling and opportunity.
-Mike Rydman, Lead Pastor, Radiant Church Juneau
