Look What God has Made
“What a lovely garden!” I hear a neighbor call out as she strolls down the sidewalk. I turn around, face beaming from the praise. “Thank you!” I call out as I pull off my gloves and wipe my sweaty hands on my overalls, surveying my domain and reveling in the compliment. At least someone around here appreciates my hard work!
For the last six years, I have slowly nurtured the abandoned yard of my fixer upper – I finally have a garden of flowers that come back each season stretching to the sky and overflowing on the front porch. I have five (yes five) pumpkin varieties crawling up, around, and over trellises, spreading large jade leaves to the sun and growing my Pinterest worthy fall front porch decor!
My domain. My creation. My value.
And just as I feel myself inflating with pride, I hear that still, small whisper. Not you exactly.
This garden may be flourishing, yet it is only doing so with rays from the sun that I did not make rise, water from the skies that I did not make fall, seeds that I did not teach how to grow, knowledge that I do not possess on my own, and rich earth that I purchased from a store. I am simply the gardener not the creator – the steward of God’s good and beautiful gifts.
If I am honest, I am prone to take credit for a lot of things in my life–not just my garden! My children? All three of them birthed from this womb! My home? Cleaner, organizer, and decorator right here! The calendar, the meal plan, the homeschool syllabus? Oh, that is all me too. I use God’s gifts to build myself a tiny kingdom where I rule and reign. In my kingdom I expect many “thank you’s” and lots of pats on my back. I need to be validated and seen. My delusion of self-importance becomes what my emotions and identity cling too.
This monarchy can feel good when things are going well–when my children behave in public, when I am on top of the homeschool schedule, or when I make a delicious meal enjoyed by all. But the moment I miss the mark, my kingdom crumbles. I need to fix it, I need to be better, I need to figure this out. The deer eat all my pumpkin blooms and a whole row of plants get burned by the hot sun. The weight of the role of creator and sustainer weighs me down. I carry a burden I was not meant to carry. Even worse than that, I attempt to steal credit from the only true creator and sustainer.
This mindset blinds me to the bigger picture. In a world where I am the creator, I only know what I know. There is no room for God to make all things beautiful in HIS time. No room for his ways that are higher than mine. When I am busy “creating” my children, I forget that the Holy Spirit’s presence and tug in their lives is what shapes them. We are not the creators, but we are the stewards.
We manage that which is God’s on behalf of God. Our homes, our families, our children, our finances, our talents and our gardens are all gifts – and are all owned – by God. He is the master and we are the stewards. Our role is not to be taken lightly, but it is also a role in which we rest in the authority and goodness of the Master. Without God we have nothing and are nothing, but with him, we have life and life abundant! Your value lies not in what you create but in who created you.
“Look at what God made!” My 6-year-old beams as she opens the front door to a new bloom in the garden. “Yes!” both my heart and my mouth exclaim! May we see the world with those eyes too. May we love, cherish, and nurture the gifts we have been given, giving greatly of ourselves without requiring worship in return. May we too point back to the Creator and cry out, “Look what God has made!”