I am God's masterpiece

I read this in church this morning.

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (Ephesians 2v10)

I never really thought of myself like that. I'm more of an, "I'm God's mistake", sort of girl. I've never really minded- it was just the way I thought of myself. Somehow I managed to read all those scriptures about myself, about how much God loves me, and think... well, I'm crap, but he loves me anyway.

It isn't about that.

Psalm 139 says, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (NIV), or, to put it another way, "Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!" (NLT). How exciting is that? It's self esteem and humility all in the same sentence. I am wonderful, because God made me so.

God made me, and then when I accepted Jesus he re-made me. I am a new creation, and a masterpiece at that. And even better- I'm capable of the good things he planned for me long ago. And that's a point in itself- he planned things for me long ago! Not just recently, last week, he didn't think, "now... what do I think Hayley should do tomorrow/next week/next year?" No, long ago, along with Moses, Abraham, David, Paul, Mother Theresa, Billy Graham (and, more recently and personally, Liz, Nikki, Ali, Thor, Wendy, Mike and Ro, Scott, Becs, Beth, Nici...) God planned what he wants me to do.

I watched a video the other day, a Nooma video. It was called Rhythm, and was about relationship with God. About living in tune with God's song. The premise was that life is like a song, and that God is making music and the rest of us, like an orchestra of instruments can either make music that complements God's tune or music that clashes. And often enough we clash, but sometimes you know, just know that you're in tune with God. And it's so exciting and it's like dancing. And it made me think, you know, a masterpiece isn't just art. It's not just my body that is his masterpiece, but my life too. My soul and my spirit are beautiful things, because they're wonderfully made. By God.

And this God, the one who made me, and made me well, has made me for relationship with him. I'm here to glorify him, and to do his work, but more than that, I'm here to enjoy his company, and for him to enjoy mine.

And that is the most exciting thing of all.

A new season...

There's a time for everything under the sun, right?

If this is the case, and I'm fairly sure it is, then working through my time seems like a good thing to do.

I'll make it simple. I'm after working out the purpose of life. Or... the purpose of my life, to be exact. Why am I here? What's my point? Am I here to serve God and glorify him only? Can I do that? How?

There are questions that need to be answered from this starting point I want to try and work through them.

This is separate to my livejournal, for the simple reason that I don't want it mixed in. It's a separate issue, really between me and God. But if you want to read it, that's ok.