A Work in Progress

It’s been almost a month since I have posted…definitely the longest I have ever gone without writing in the almost 2 years (!!!) that I have been blogging.  No real reason for my absence, or at least not one reason.  Busy, nothing to say, too much to say….my life is full and blessed.  God is good.  Sometimes life is hard….not hard for me lately, but for people that I love.  Yet, God just keeps being good.  That’s it, really…God’s amazing goodness.  It is so constant and consistent and unfailing.

The scripture verse I keep thinking of lately is Philippians 1:6 (NIV): “…He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”  The Message version says “There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.”  …carry it on to completion…keep at it….God is not a quitter.  What He has begun, He WILL complete.  A flourishing finish.  We can count on it.

I have seen so many evidences of that truth lately.  On the left is a picture of my beautiful peonies in April:

And on the right, here they are in May:

The beauty that I tried to capture in a vase in May, God could see in that scratchy looking dirt in April.  God, who is not limited by human sight, saw the fullness of His creation within those tiny, red buds barely sticking their heads through the chilly April soil.  There was never any question that those small shoots would produce masses of glorious flowers that filled my kitchen for several weeks.  It was their destiny.

Even more beautiful than my peonies was my precious first-born sharing her Statement of Faith with the congregation on Confirmation Sunday a few weeks ago.  The good work that God has begun in her, He is faithfully fulfilling.  Through His grace, He has made her His own and He will carry that on to completion…a flourishing finish.  It is her destiny in Him.  Just this past weekend, she and God handled a difficult situation with so much maturity, grace and wisdom that I could only sit back and applaud His goodness….His faithfulness…His uncompromising generosity.  The work He is doing in her life, in the lives of both of my girls, is the most beautiful thing that I have ever witnessed.  He, of course, saw the fulfillment of His plan for their lives when they were still in my womb. He has begun a good work and He WILL carry it on to completion.  He sees the fullness of their beauty, just like my peonies, when He looks at them now…just beginning their journey with Him.

If I believe that verse for my girls, then it stands to reason that is is true for me as well.  And for my friend who is going through a time of heartache.  And for my husband who is dealing with the stress of a new job.  God has begun a good work and He will see it through to a “flourishing finish”…transforming each of us to be more like Jesus.  It is our destiny in Him.  Whatever it is, it is part of the process of becoming that which He intended for us all along.  The way He already sees us.  More beautiful, more complex, more intricate than the most glorious flower in my garden.