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Masterpieces and the Yuck Swamp


        For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. (Psalm 139:13-16)

           Here are the much and well-loved verses and they deserve that fondness even though they refer to, as I said the other day, our “mere” manufacture. If nothing else, this passage speaks to me of the tenderness and carefulness of God. As a side note to those who say that the God of the Old Testament is a judging, cruel god, I must point out that this passage and Psalm 23 are both in the Old Testament.
Monday afternoons,  I’ve been trying to teach myself to sew. It’s the newest of my crafty hobbies, and I must admit that I’m not very good. My current project is supposed to be a pillow cover that at least looks quilted, but the squares don’t match up. I have the choice of tearing it all apart, throwing it out and starting over, or leaving it as it is.
          The other thing my craftiness has taught me over the years is that no matter what I’m working on, somewhere between the excitement of a new project and the completion of the masterpiece (or something less than a masterpiece) there is a swamp known as Yuck. For me, Yuck tends to involve errors, but I’ve watched painters as they add colors that clearly have no business being where they put them. They deliberately move their work through the Yuck Swamp. Somehow, as they keep adding colors that don’t make sense, the painting becomes beautiful. Whether by design or accident, beauty and completeness seem to require a trip into Yucky territories. So while we like to think that when we’re born, we’re perfect, the truth is that as fearful and as wonderful as His skillful workmanship is, it’s incomplete.
          Those who know something about painting may watch the same process that I find amazing and see a process they’ve completed a thousand times. It’s not the Yuck Swamp. They can see what will be, which means that, like David, they can appreciate the beginning stages. They can stand in awe when the rest of us are scratching our heads, or even turning away in disgust. They are capable of the wonder that so many of us have lost.
           Lord, ignite our ability to wonder. Grant us the vision to see Your hand at work, making the apparent travesty of our lives into masterpieces.

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