battered and faded has been given new life.
Restored and renewed, with fresh paint of redeeming white;
"It is finished" He said "Yet we've just begun".
With bold impasto strokes,
The Great Artist begins.
He thickly applies the shades of love and grace,
layering on the colors and shaping the paint with discipline.
Every color of nature creatively flared together with artistic license.
The Painter has a plan, so His strokes are confident,
He is in control of each movement,
and in His mind's eye He already smiles over the end result.
Red strokes passionately sweep the canvas,
abstractly proclaiming redemption at a cost.
Midnight blue hues mark times of deep, drowning
oceans of suffering and dark valleys of pain that refine and humble.
Worship births the brightness of the white and pink swirls,
while fountains of purples spring forth speaking of royal adoption.
And in the centre, in the midst of colorful chaos radiates the Son;
yellow and bright, ever expanding and shining forth as the Artist paints.
"A masterpiece" He breathes,
already His face warms with joy as He beholds it.
From the first stroke, He rejoices over the beauty of His creation.
It reflects a little of who He is, a little of His heart.
The artist displays His work in progress, unashamed.
Everyday He will continue to work,
He promises "I will not abandon a work undone".
Patiently He will continue, until it bears His image
and He welcomes it into His home.
Weak, stumbling and humbled, I hold my Papa's hand;
a great work is far from how I perceive the canvas of my life.
Yet the Father sees a Masterpiece in the making, a story not yet fully told,
I welcome with faith, the strokes of His love changing me.
Phil 1:6
"being confident of this very thing, that he which began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ"
