A few weeks ago, my daughter took it upon herself to create this.
In her mind’s eye it was a labor of love, a work of art, a masterpiece. She worked tirelessly on it for hours and then proudly showed it to me when she was done. Of course I ooohed and ahhhed appropriately and assured her of its beauty and splendor.
Of course what I really saw was a bunch of junk glued together.
But not my daughter. She looked at that collection of glue-ridden broken Triscuits, crumpled Kleenex, milk cartons with the remains of lunchtime’s chocolate milk, and scraps of construction paper, and she saw a beautiful creation.
And it occurred to me that sometimes I look in the mirror and all I see is a bunch of junk glued together. And just as that dirty, used milk carton was so precariously glued atop that unstable foundation of paper, some days I feel about to come apart at my very delicate seams. And yet, in my creator’s eyes, I am a beautiful creation. Not because I know how to artfully apply eyeliner, but because he formed me in my mother’s womb and knew me before the foundation of the world. And I just think that’s pretty stinkin’ cool.
My daughter wanted to take her creation to school and give it to her teacher, but I looked at that wobbly milk carton and knew that her opus would never make it down the street, onto the bus, and to school in one piece. I gently convinced her that she should keep it here and enjoy it.
In the days that followed, it was forgotten, collected dust, and yes, it got thrown away. But before I tossed it, I took a picture as a reminder that someone made me and thinks I’m beautiful.
Aww….I loved this. What a great analogy to demonstrate how our Creator delights in us!
I love the cute creation. I like the analogy you used, it is so true that we don’t always look at ourselves the way we should.
If this was on Facebook, I would “like” it. Yea you.
And there was a great deal of stealth used in the throwing away of said masterpiece so as not to crush the artist’s feelings. At least that’s what happens in my home.
It’s amazing how padded my Parenting magazines are when I finally toss them in the trash can.
This was so well written, Jo-Lynne — and a great reminder. 🙂
What a sweet post. Kids do work so hard on their projects.
Beautiful.
aww… how precious.
What a great reminder of how we should look at ourselves! We are exactly what our Creator wanted us to be! Thank you for this!
Makes me think of Steven Curtis Chapman’s song ‘I can see the fingerprints of God, when I look at you’ 🙂
I’m so glad that God sees me through His eyes and not mine…
Very well said.
We each have projects that our kids create that we look at and wonder, but they love them so we do too. Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes.
>gulp<
(choked up)
the color scheme reminds of someting by orla kiely…like your purse maybe???
the child has good taste!
What a great analogy.
That creation your daughter made…it was just beautiful. Especially because she worked SO hard on it. I love it! I love the little triscuit!
This reflection is wonderful and brought a tear to my eyes. Somedays I feel like junk too and it is hard to remember how much we MUST be loved by our creator.
I LUV your musings. Thank you for being you.
Beautiful, indeed.
This is a special form of art. As we are to our Creator.
Thanks for sharing.
God Bless