A Work of Art

A Work of Art

A varied group gathered to paint cookies with icing. We represented four generations of people from little kids, to their mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers. Our skills ran from the scribble-with-crayons stage to those skilled with normal everyday use of writing with a pen or pencil, to those trained to paint oil paintings. Finally, there were those whose shaky hands defied consistent steadiness. What fun to watch each group ice cookies. With the luxury of many pastry bags full of a wide variety of colored icings and platters full of freshly-baked, un-decorated cookies, and an icing expert to demonstrate and help the most unimaginative, we had the perfect world for making beautiful, festive cookies.  Everyone enjoyed themselves. The youngest children applied their icing liberally, making a version of colorful modern art. The artists turned out such gorgeous works of art that eating the beautiful results felt criminal. The rest of us achieved various degrees of success in between.

 

We have the same variety in the Kingdom of God. We are in different stages of development in our faith and understanding. Just as we considered the little children’s cookies wonderful for their stage of development, so does God look upon our efforts where we are not skilled or trained as perfectly for our level of maturity. Just as we raved over the masterpiece cookies iced with carefully shaded colors and concise lines falling exactly where they belonged, God is also pleased when we follow His design for us. Just as the ones with wavy lines, and miss-shaped blobs tasted every bit as good as the artistic ones, to God our efforts to learn His ways and grow closer to Him are wonderful at whatever level we achieve. The taste of the cookies was the same for the beginner decorator as the skilled one. His pleasure with us doesn’t depend on our mastery of a skill. None of us criticized the efforts of anyone else. We weren’t all supposed to turn out masterpieces. Some of us will focus our attention on other activities that are more in line with our calling, and others will practice and continue to bless people with lovely cookies. While we enjoy activities where our skills aren’t advanced, we also seek God for direction as to where He wishes to help us develop the skills with which He endowed us. Every pursuit can be fun to some measure, but God has particular abilities for us to bless ourselves and others.