Masterpiece Treats

Yesterday afternoon, I had a phone conversation with my nephew. He told me his suitcase was packed to come to “West Birginia” for Turkey day. He then proceeded to tell me that he would like for me to have treats in my suitcase when I picked him up at the airport. He doesn’t fully understand that I won’t have a suitcase at the airport but at two years old he has fully mastered the understanding that when I come to “Hutsie’s” house-I come with a suitcase packed full of bare necessities and numerous treats for him. Even though every visit to Houston is filled with massive amounts of high fructose corn syrup and my heart explodes with overwhelming happiness when we eat ice cream from the carton, share cupcakes for breakfast, or sneak guppies (known as fruit snacks to the rest of the world) upstairs before bedtime, my favorite treats are his artistic masterpieces. I know that my sister is the mastermind and driving force behind most of my Hudson masterpieces but his scribbles and stickers are his own personal touch, his own way of making me the most blessed aunt on the planet. I have kept every piece of artwork he has ever sent me in 2 years and I love them all beyond words but during my last visit, he painted me my absolute favorite masterpiece to date. We were at the Houston Children’s museum and while he was painting my sister asked him what his picture was called. His response, “I love aunt Jay Jay.” Yes, I am proud to say that I cried in a crowded museum in front of God and everybody as soon as the words left his mouth. And I am proud to say that no one could ever love that little dude more than his Aunt Jay Jay.

Despite my increased ability to draw trains and railroad crossings (Hudson’s favorite things), my artistic abilities rank pretty low on my list of talents. If you’ve ever seen my drawings you would support my claim that I won’t be producing masterpieces anytime soon. But my (and your) very existence is a masterpiece created by God. He is the mastermind and driving force behind every part of my being. He knows my inmost thoughts, fears, and desires. He knows all of my faults, failures, and shortcomings. He knows every hardship I will face; every situation I will overcome. And he knows every painful scar of my heart. I wish I could be proud to say that if you saw the canvas that God saw, you would see a beautiful masterpiece, but you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t because I have put my own personal touches on my life. I have splattered my canvas with sin, shame, fear, anger, pride, resentment, and bitterness. I have left stickers and scribbles I wish I could permanently erase. I have allowed the stains of worldly opinions outweigh the saving grace and redeeming blood of Jesus. I have allowed my tattered version of myself be the framework of my life opposed to allowing God to make all things new. I have viewed God’s most skillful, intricate, beautiful artistic skills like black paint stains on the Mona Lisa. But despite my attempts to ruin God’s masterpiece, He still loves me beyond words. He still wipes away every “ugly” area of my life and puts His own personal touches on it. He uses what I once saw as permanent vandalism to his beautiful creation as a way to show Himself off through me. He takes every one of my poor artistic talents and refines it until I see exactly what He sees. The refining process isn’t always enjoyable or as short as I would like but necessary in order for my life to be a testimony of who He is. A testimony that despite what I see or more importantly what the world sees; I am God’s masterpiece. It’s easy to be defeated by the world’s view of who we are and it’s even easier to take yourself down the “you are a no good dirty bum” road in your own life.  Satan finds great delight in keeping us from who we are in Christ because quite frankly he’s scared to death of the power we will come to know once we realize who we are in Christ. It takes strength and a genuine relationship with the one who created you to understand that He loves you in spite of your poor artistic abilities. To understand that we may see scribbles but the one holding the paintbrush sees a masterpiece. To understand that we may have to wait until the day we meet our maker/artist to stand in awe of the finished masterpiece.  But to me the wait is worth it because I know God is proud to say in front of everyone, no one will ever love this little dudette like He does.

Saturday afternoon, I will show up at the airport with a bag (or suitcase) full of numerous treats for the most fabulous two year old in the galaxy. To him, it will be system overload as he sifts through all of his favorite high fructose corn syrup snacks. To his parents, it will be a reminder to buy my future children ten times as many treats and the beginning of their “you are going to give him diabetes” speech. To me, it will be moment number six zillion of favorites with my main squeeze. My main squeeze, Jesus, whose greatest artistic masterpiece to date was fearfully and wonderfully creating me to be my favorite everything’s Aunt Jay Jay.

Verse to remember:

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Psalm 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful. I know that full well.

G Man

Last Christmas, I inherited a wee puppy named Gio. And although he has taken me through the peaks and valleys of the puppy world; I love him so very much. His most endearing and annoying quality is his excitement to see me (or anyone he is familiar with) upon entering his domain. It’s endearing because he consistently shows love and devotion. It is annoying because his greeting is usually accompanied by a few dribbles of excitement pee and a gift. His gifts range from a chew toy to a pair of underwear he has managed to dig out of the laundry. Nonetheless, it’s his way of saying hi and assuring me that he (if absolutely no one else in that day) is super excited to see me. Although I love G man for his one of a kind greeting, I love him most because he has absolutely zero retention of our human behaviors. His devotion, love, and excitement remain consistent even when he gets tormented (by tormented I mean chased by children or having his favorite toys placed out of his reach), denied government cheese or peanut butter, takes a heated lashing after eating expensive shoes, or gets my “angry mom” face when using the bathroom for the second time on a walk when I only brought one bag.  Regardless of the events of our day Gio is always my constant four-legged best man. He always chooses to love me and ensure that I feel that love the moment he runs to my feet with his most prized possession of the hour dangling out of his mouth, leaving a puddle of pee at my feet.

On July 23, 1999, I inherited a savior named Jesus. And although He has taken me through the peaks and valleys of this life, I love Him s very much. His most endearing and annoying quality is His excitement to see me (or absolutely anyone) when I enter into His presence. It’s endearing because He consistently shows endless love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and devotion. It’s annoying because He doesn’t always lead me in the direction I want to go or answer my prayers exactly how I want Him to. I don’t really think Jesus is annoying and my many (and I do mean many) journeys through the peaks and valleys have allowed me to see that what I call annoying; He calls obedient faith. But like Gio, Jesus always greets me with a gift when I choose obedient faith opposed to one of the million answers found within the Jay Garcia handbook of disobedience. Of course, it’s easy to choose faith when the gifts from above are evident and overflowing but how many of us choose to exercise the limits of our faith when the gift we need (or think we need) is nowhere to be found. What if your gift is negative genetic testing results of your unborn nephew when you’re helplessly a time zone away? Or what if your gift is found within the discovery that your partner of 10 years has been unfaithful? Or what if the gift is watching your sister hit rock bottom due to a drug addiction because it’s the only way God can rescue her?  Yes, friends this are all recent events of my life and despite my extreme human behaviors, Jesus and His endless love has remained constant. I have tormented His heart with my rebellion and lack of faith but not because He is a vengeful savior. But because all He ever wanted was for me to stand strong firm in my faith and let Him take care of everything. While I was consistently putting my heart in a blender and hitting pulse, doubting everything I have ever known to be true about Jesus, He was consistently praying for me. The God of the universe had/has my whole world in His hands gentling molding it so that I could experience every desire of my heart and instead of letting Him be God, I bunker down in my valley prepared to cry out my current situation. The problem with running away from God when the weight of the world comes crashing down on me is that I can’t feel His love. His love is there and the problem isn’t Him; its all me. God is always standing with his outstretched arm waiting for His most prized possession to come to His feet. He doesn’t care if I dribble pee or bring shame, doubt, fear, and rebellion with me. He will always be there forgetting about my human behaviors of the day and ensure that I feel His love. A love so strong that it has allowed me to choose obedient faith over and over again even when the gift I need or more importantly the gift God has for me is accompanied by deep pain. Pain is only temporary and a necessary part of our walk with God. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to testify to the greatness of who He is. Without it I wouldn’t be able to increase my faith in my favorite two-legged best man.

Tonight, when I finally drift off to sleep I will have a little fur ball snuggled up next to me. Despite my attempts to move him in order to have a more peaceful nights sleep, he will always reposition himself. Tonight, tomorrow, and every day for the rest of my life, when I am desperate to feel God’s love and am tested in the limits of my faith, I will have the King of Kings snuggled up next to me. And despite my attempts to move Him because I desperately want to run, He will reposition himself. He will reposition himself until I have total peace in Him-until I am at His feet wagging my tail dragging all of the gifts He has given me.

Verse to remember:

Psalm 136:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.

1 Peter 5:6-7 So humble yourself under the mighty power of God and in His good time, He will honor you. Give all of your worries/cares to God for He cares about what happens to you.