27 July 2011

What are you begetting?

Does the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' or 'Your work has no handles'?
-Isaiah 45:9b

Who are we to say God has made us right or wrong. Isaiah says "Woe to him who strives with him who formed him!" Does it not seem silly for us to say to God, "What are you doing here?" or "I think you got it wrong". Does God not know what He is doing? Does a sculptor not know more than his clay?

Animate versus inanimate. God versus not God. Same thing in my book.

So you look at yourself and see mistakes. God's mistakes. God, um...listen...you forgot the handles...and easy mistake...anyone could have done it. NO! God does not make mistakes. God does not make you one way if He wants you to be another. He makes you exactly what you need to be to do what He has planned for you to do. What is God making? That's always fun to find out...

I used to think that I was purposed for something more than just teaching. I saw myself in ministry, teaching in front of a congregation. I struggled with the fact that certain things about me made this dream unrealistic. For one, I'm a woman, and argue as we could, I just don't like the idea of a woman teaching men. So I was like, okay maybe I'm supposed to be like a youth pastor or something. But once again I struggled with not being made for that. I thought, "Why would God make me a woman who is just a little bit shy if He wanted me to preach?" Then it dawns on me...What if I'm not meant to do any of that stuff? I could give a laundry list of things I thought God might have wanted me to do for the Kingdom. Missions. Preaching. Pastor's wifing. Leading. I've gone through my fair share of phases. Many times I have thought God had messed up royally with me. I wondered why He would make me this way. Even in college I watched myself not measure up. This time, I wanted to be a scholar. I thought there was a memo or something that everyone else in the world had received, but someone had just forgotten to CC me on it. Fair mistake. I thought God had just wired me too different and that I would never be a good teacher because I just didn't get it. But since teaching is me, I could not be more perfectly designed for it. Let's see if I can make a metaphor...

A mug and a cup are very similar in many ways. And unless you're using it for hot stuff, you really don't need the handle that comes with the mug. Yeah, it can make things easier, but if you're enjoying a nice glass of sweet tea, you might even prefer the cup to the mug. But, both will work just fine. I was the cup in a class full of mugs. I looked around and saw how I could never hold hot liquids and that was a huge glaring fault in my eyes. Little did I know how much better I could be at other things, like holding tea. All of my collegues will be fabulous teachers too, but I am different. Apples and oranges.

All of that too say that you can't compare yourself to others. Don't think God made a mistake because you don't have qualities you like in others. Sometimes, you better the way you are. Actually, you're always better the way God made you. If you were supposed to be different, He would have made you different. If you were supposed to be skinnier, He would have made you one of those girls. If you were supposed to be an athlete, I think He would have given you the talent. But since all you're supposed to be is what you are, He made You. Period.

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