Beautiful Imperfection

Good evening y'all.   It looks like I slept thru another month.   hahaha    Well, I didn't sleep thru it, I just was a bit busy and didn't take time to do much blogging.    I have done a little crafting though.   The project I wish to share with y'all tonight came about by something that was said this week about our own crafting areas and making mishaps, happy or not, they happen.   In the conversation, I said that I had never sat down to perfection in my craft room.    That is true!!!!    It looks like a tornado went thru it three times, really it does.   I started to say, "oh well, it works for me", but it really doesn't.   I need to do some straightening up in the cave.    hahaha    Oh well, back to the project.   I had done another project recently with sea shells and while going thru the shells, I was tossing aside the plain, chipped, broken, and cracked ones.    I hadn't dropped them in the trash can yet, but was getting ready to.   I took another look at them and viewed them with my heart and not my eyes, and this is what I came up with.    All those imperfect sea shells that I had already decided had no use became the focus of a 9 x 12 canvas panel.  

So, I took the plain, chipped, broken and cracked shells and colored them with different markers.

After I colored the plain, chipped, cracked and broken shells, I then used clear nail polish to put a shine on them.  

Yeah, you knew there would be a purple one.....hehehehe.    You would have been worried if I had not colored one purple and I would have too.

I really love how the shells took the color.   Some of them was just beautiful.    Who would'a figured a bunch of plain, chipped, broken and cracked shells could look so "purty"?

This is what I titled the piece.    "Beautiful Imperfection".     No, nothing about this is perfect, wasn't supposed to be and I didn't want it to be, even if I could have made it perfect.    But I can see the beauty in the plain, chipped, broken and cracked.

I used all kinds of spray colors and paste and I don't know what all.   The shells was the most important thing I used, everything else is secondary.    The lesson I learned while putting this together was an awesome one.

All the time I was working on this I was reminded that even things that are plain, chipped, broken and cracked are beautiful!!!!!    I just have to believe the day that God made each one of these shells, He made them with a purpose.    I think part of that purpose was to show me that even if it isn't perfect, it can still be used!!!!    Isn't that the way it is with the life of a Christian?    We are not perfect!!!!!    If someone tells you they are, they are lying!!!!!    Well, they are.    Only Christ Jesus is perfect!    The redemption story of these shells is so much like our redemption story, in a way.    On our own, we are plain, cracked, broken and chipped all to pieces and only Jesus Christ can make us into something that He sees as beautiful.    Our perfection is in Him alone.    We are imperfect creatures, but Jesus cleans us up and He turns us into beautiful imperfection!     We are His "Beautiful Imperfection".    I hope that you can see that even with imperfections, you are still beautiful!!!!    If you were a shell, which one would be?     I would be a "music box" shell.    My friend brought me one from one of her vacations and I love it!!!!    She has since gone home to be with her Savior, but every time I see that shell, I think of her.

I've been reading here lately and studying about some of the lineage and ancestry that we can find in several places in Scripture.   Sometimes we as human beings have a tendency to get lost or caught up in where and how we may fit in or even start thinking about our own legacy.   It is awesome to be excited about seeing who came before us.   Some people can trace their own heritage back for several generations and can know and have documentation that shows their ancestors service to the Lord.   That is such an awesome legacy to be able to trace and know that this is where you come from.    For me personally, there was and is people on both sides of my family that loved the Lord and served Him all the days of their lives!!     I am proud of that heritage!!!!!   No giants, so to speak of, but just common folk walking it out on a daily basis.

I have been in groups of people and overheard conversations and maybe even been a part of those conversations, where some were talking about having been "born into the church" and tooting their own horn, so to speak.   Letting others know that they have a pedigree of some sorts, basically letting others know that they were a little better than some of the others that was listening or joining in on the conversation.    When that happens, I am instantly transported back in time, to the 1980's when we had an interim pastor at my church.    This man was the associational pastor that would fill in any time there was a need for him to do so.

This pastor spoke about the place in New Testament Scripture where Paul was talking about his pedigree.    If anyone ever had a golden list to brag about, Paul did.    In the end, Paul said he counted it all dung when he measured it up against what Christ has done for him.   That tells me that where ever you start your walk with Christ, that's where your legacy for the Lord starts.   Everything else that you can use to measure yourself with is useless, especially someone elses walk with the Lord.   It is a great thing to have people going before you that are walking it out and being great examples of what the Christian walk can and should look like.  

As well as this man's sermon sticking out in my mind, the title of it is, I guess, what has helped me to remember it more than anything.   The title of Dr. Richard Gebhart's sermon was "No Hitch-Hikers to Heaven".    Have you ever thought about that.   You may be able to trace your Christian heritage and lineage back for many generations.    But unless there is a starting point with you own walk with the Lord, it's useless and you won't get in to heaven just because of someone else in your lineage.    In other words, unless and until you confess your sins, ask for forgiveness, and accept Christ as Lord and Savior of your own life, that lineage history means nothing.

So, if you are ever in a situation where other people are tooting their horn about having been born in the church and have all this cool history, just ask them when they accepted Christ as their Savior and started their own walk with Him, because in the end, there are no hitch-hikers to heaven.

I first met Dr. Gebhart back in the early eighties when he was our interim pastor for about 6 or 8 months.   His sermons were riveting.    Hubby and I moved in the early 90's to a different state and that meant going to a different church.    Dr. Gebhart was invited to that church as a guest speaker and I was so excited I got to tell him I remembered him from the 80's.   He was happy I remembered him. Then in 2000 we moved once again and that meant another church and I got to see and hear him once again at that church.   I was excited to tell him once again I had remembered him from other occasions and he was happy.   He has since gone on home to be with his Savior and Lord now and he is sadly missed by those who knew him.    He never spoke of his own pedigree, he only spoke of his Savior's love for him and shared that with everyone.   What a legacy!!!    That's what I would wish my legacy to be.   Just the legacy of Christ's love for me, shared with those I come in contact with.   What could be better than that?

I sure hope y'all have seen something here tonight that you liked, if you did, share it with someone.   Tell somebody you know that they are "beautiful imperfection".    They may have never heard that are beautiful in the eyes of their Creator.     God bless y'all tonight with an awesome night of healing rest and your tomorrow full of blessings beyond measure.    God loves you and so do I.    hugs, Patty