God's Artwork~~~~A Thing of Beauty

It was Mother's Day weekend and the plan was to surprise my mom and dad the Saturday before Mother's Day. Managing to tell a few lies about not being able to make it that weekend we were set to go.

Not so cooperative to our sneaky plans was the weather over the mountain pass. Snow in May wasn't what we were hoping for so we had to change our route. The alternate route we had to pick took us through the rolling hills of grasslands and farm country.

Once as we made a rest stop I took a picture of God's artwork before me. It was a beautiful site to see. To someone else they may have seen it as a desolate place with no civilization within miles around. To some beauty is skyscrapers and shopping malls. To others beauty is more trees and less rocks while others would have loved to travel thru the mountainous roads full of snow we were trying to avoid.

No matter how we see it the old saying, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is so very true. It's in the eye of the one who is looking.

The more I thought about this the more it made me think of God and how He looks upon each of us as a thing of beauty. It doesn't matter how others see us or even how we see ourselves. He is the one who is doing the most beholding, the most looking. Therefore, what He thinks counts.

So remember that the next time you see yourself or others. To God we are special, a thing of beauty, a treasure to behold. Intentionally designed, fearfully and wonderfully made. Praise The Lord.

They Call Me,

Grandma


Copyright 2014 Karen Gillett at Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing 

Caught my attention~~~~A Painting in The Sky

 

As I worked early in the morning something caught my attention. It was the paint job of the sky God had painted for me. I couldn't pass it by, my work could wait, I had the time to stop and appreciate. As I went outside to get closer to this great painting in the sky it was awesome to see.

 

The beauty of God is all around us and it would do us well to pay attention and stop long enough to appreciate it when we see it. Our hearts need to be opened up to receive such blessings as we intentionally go looking for God wherever we are.

 

Being a collector of black and white holstein cows I can spot a black and white cow anywhere. Even my family has gotten to where they can as well. Those cows just seem to jump out at us wherever we go. We need to be a collector of God's beauty and before we know it, it will be jumping out at us as we spot it everywhere we go.

 

Praise the Lord for today's painting in the sky and the artist behind it all, God our Creator. God not only created and designed the colors I was seeing but He created and designed me as well and that is something we need to look upon as one of the beauty's of God. We don't need to be the prettiest girl or the most handsome boy in town, what God sees as beauty is the soul within us, the person we are and can be if we would only allow God to paint the colors of His beauty in us. The colors of virtue, responsible, patience, loving, caring, humble, strong, merciful, upbeat, and the list goes on and on.

 

Picture Dees #40--Onion Layers

As you grow up in life you will notice that people are often made of all sorts of layers. God starts us out in life with a spiritual heart that is tender and sweet. As we grow up we tend to add our own layers. When we get into school we think we need to add a layer that impresses other kids. Later we find ourselves adding a layer that hides what we don’t want others to see about us like our short temper or our grumpiness.

Eventually over time we have several different layers we have used to cover ourselves up. The layers we add won’t last forever like the picture I drew on my onion. After awhile it fell off.


We may fool a lot of people but we don’t fool God. He is the one who sees past those different layers. Sooner or later one layer at a time He gets down to who we really are and we need to do the same. The best thing to do is to never start adding them in the first place.

The layer we put on to try and get other kids to like us needs to go. The layer of disguises we put on to hide who we are needs to go. The layers of wrong attitudes and bad choices need to go.


You are as unique as the snowflakes that carry their own designs. Don’t try to cover that up by adding what you think needs to be in order to copy someone else.


Dear Heavenly Father, thank you Lord for taking the time to show us who we can be when we allow You in our lives. You bring out the special things we carry in our hearts. May we always remember “being ourselves” isn’t an invitation to do and be whatever we want. No, it’s a blessing to be the child You created us to be by Your Design. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen!”


© 2010 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

Picture Dees #8 The True Gems

Old and rugged or new and beautiful it doesn’t matter how fancy our jewelry box is or how large the safe we purchase to store our valuables in. The truth remains the same that the thing of value we wish to protect is on the inside.

The same is true for us. No matter how pretty we try to dress up on the outside our true value comes from within our hearts. The outside beauty we try to work on so much will eventually fail or weaken but the gems inside of us that make us who we are will only grow more valuable with time.

This is why God has asked to live inside our hearts. Having Him on the outside as a cross around our neck, a dusty Bible on our shelf, or a pew that we occupy once a week isn’t enough. Who we are in Christ, the beauty created by following Him starts first from within as it works its way out for others to see. The gems of the Bible need to become the gems of our hearts as we follow Christ to the true place of beauty, life in Heaven. Eternity well spent.

Copyright 2008 Marissa and Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing