SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL
Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
I enjoy so many little things in nature that many people don't notice or take for granted. And even though I notice many things, I still sometimes, miss out on some amazing things in God's creation.
This morning God brought to mind the work of a beaver in the rivers and streams. The beavers work, day after day, week after week, month after month, building a dam across a stream. Chewing down trees, then chewing off sticks and swimming them to the place he needs to stick them. Over and over again, with 100s upon 100s of sticks. Then he digs up mud and packs it in the sticks to hold back the water... and I didn't know if he knows why. I don't believe they reason as to what the purpose is, yet he keeps building.
A young beaver watched the adult beaver create a dam and a lodge... but did he learn it that way, or did God instill that in his being?
My dad was a builder. But he had a vision and purpose as he built. He wasn't a really good teacher, he just expected us to watch him and know what to do. I often wondered if I was learning anything while doing "grunt work" as a kid.
What I've been seeing now is that many of the things I saw and experienced as a kid and young man now benefits me as an adult... I can see that my dad's "teaching" comes back now to help me get the job done.
The same is true of our Heavenly Father's teaching and our life experiences. Looking back at who I am and where I am today because of what I have come through.
We've lived though some hard times, the death of family and close friends, hard economic times, "friends" turning on us and much more... But today I can look back and see what God taught me from those times. And more importantly, I can see where God has now blessed me because of these past situations.
This morning three different friends posted Romans 8:28 on their Facebook timeline... Within minutes it was in front of me three times. I believe God wanted me to see what He is doing in the midst of life's turmoil. This verse was always my dad's, "life verse" and he told me it often.
There is an old Bill Gaither song called SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL that speaks to what God does with the messes and disappointments of our lives.
"Something beautiful, something good
All my confusion He understood, All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife
But he made something beautiful of my life"
God's children can always look back and see where God took something that was broken and painful in our lives and He made it into something beautiful, something good. We need to trust that He will do that with all of our brokenness and strife. He promises that if we "love Him and are called for His purpose" that, "all things work together for good".
The beaver takes broken sticks and ugly mud and makes something that sustains life and helps them thrive. God does that with you and me... when we allow Him to do it.
Rest on this today as you face painful issues and struggle with the day in and day out disappointments.
He will make something beautiful of our lives if we trust in Him to do it.
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