God Is The Poet (I'm Simply The Poem)

    Throughout my life I've known quite a few writers, some authors even. I feel blessed to have a great many wonderful friends who love the feel of words as much as I.  Those people encourage me.  I like that.  They challenge me.  I need that.  They keep me inspired.  I love that.  The act of sitting down, whether with a pen and paper or a typewriter, to write ideas that are aching to be freed from their head gives them a feeling of relief.  Or so it does with me.  I love reading their work.  I love seeing within their thoughts through their writing; to be able to catch a glimpse of the world as they view it is an honor.

    However, I have the pleasure of knowing one particular writer who I particularly adore.  He is the author of man, the author of time, and the author of heaven.  He wrote the story of the universe.  He wove beautiful threads of hope into the story we so boldly took into our own hands.  He is God.  He is Jesus.  He is the Spirit of Holiness.  He is the unparalleled author of all time and all circumstances.  And, we mortal storytellers (as well as those who don't enjoy weaving tales), all have the immense privilege of having our biographies drafted and published by him. 

     What have you always dreamt your story would read like?  Or, how do you wish readers to view your protagonist?  What do you want people to see in you? 

     If my biography were to go the way I can't help but dream it would, I guess it would go something like this:  It would contain a heroine who was beautiful in every way; inside and out.  She would always know what to do and when to do it.  Everything she touched and everyone she met would be shown joy.  But, still, her story would keep you wanting to discover what happens next.  It wouldn't feel boring, even with constant perfection. 

     However, we all know that's pish-posh.  Perfect stories are never interesting.  At any rate, I've never discovered a story with quintessential characters that was intriguing.

     The cleanest of our stories is marred in some way.  My heroine is not perfect.  She is broken.  She is scarred.  She is messy.  A virus diseased God's perfect story, and because of that virus, my main character makes mistakes.  She makes big ones.  She is put in situations in which she doesn't know what to do.  Sometimes she will handle them properly, but many times, a sad many times, she will mess them up badly.  She may bring joy to some people, but whether she means to or not (and I pray she never means to) she will hurt some people.  And, at times, her story may be so mangled that to turn its pages is pure agony.  It stings the mind and soul to continue.

     Only when our sequels are begun, and everyone has a flawless biography being written shall they be any good at all.  When we no longer need intrigue, but are perfectly content with beautiful, pristine, wholesome fact; when sin has been abolished, and pain has been erased...then shall our faultless sequels of our heavenly selves be written. 
    
     Here is where I would like to break away from the metaphorical and remember that I am this protagonist .  I am her and she is me.  She is messy.  I am messy.  And that is okay, because Jesus came to rescue my story.  I am not the heroine, but he is my hero.  The story is saved!

     Since I am prohibited from living a perfect life, what then do I wish people to see in me?  I want them to see a character who, first and foremost, loves Jesus.  I want them to see that before I declare it with words.  I want them to see a character whose eyes sparkle with joy.  Not shallow happiness that floats in and out like the tide, but pure, firmly rooted joy.

     Yes, I want be lovely on the outside (I've never known a person who didn't), but if all mention of outward beauty were forgotten, I would want people to remember thinking my heart was like a fine, white daisy; gentle, sweet, and courageous.  I want people to see a sense of humor, but a kind spirit.  I want to listen.  I am not always adept at this.  I forget to sit and simply hear.  I do not wish to be like that.  I wish to be trusted.  Trusted not only to understand, but trusted to be there.  That, I think, I desire most of all.  I want to be known for being there for people.  I want to be a helping hand...a cheerful helping hand.  I want to have a smile that makes anyone's bad day instantaneously better. 

     I wish for people to see me as strong, and capable, but gentle as a whispering breeze.  And when the day is done, I want to be known for trying my best, for exercising my grace, and admitting I have major, glaring flaws.  I want to be humble, and I confess, I'm not always great at that.

     In 2 Corinthians 3:3 it says, "You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts."  We are letters in which God writes his character.  God writes his character on our hearts.  If we ask him to, he will edit our stories, and add his character to our descriptions.  When someone opens our story, leafs through the pages, and turns over our book to read the synopsis, it will remind them of the character of God. 

     In the Greek language the word "workmanship" means "poem".  If you switch them out in Ephesians 2:10 it reads, "For we are his poem, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."  To quote my father, "God is the poet, and we are the poem.  The poet has rhyme and reason for your life."

     I long for people, who aren't acquainted with me, to be able to ask people who are, what I am like.  And, I want them to be able to reply, "She is truly inspiring.  I feel as if it's God I am friends with through her, and not simply her."



     ~ Brooke