A lot of connections today

Today, I read Hannah's words of thanks to God and Zachariah's words of thanks to God.

I read that God "sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts." Essentially, He allows sorrow and joy. He allows sickness and healing. He's got it in His big, big hands. It's a little disheartening maybe, to think He's the conductor of an orchestra that sometimes seems dissonant. But "the foundations of the earth are the Lord's; on them he has set the world." We're HIS lumps of clay and He is a master artist.

Have you ever watched someone sculpting or working on a pottery wheel? Sometimes, you see them creating something and you begin to feel amazed. You see where the shapes look like they're going, and you're excited to see them be manipulated. Then a little thing happens: maybe a side begins to sag just a little, and BAM! The artist smashes it in and begins smoothing out bubbles -- you catch yourself saying, "NO! It was looking so good! I could never have done that!" You think the artist is a perfectionist and that time has just been wasted.

But the artist knows that clay weakens as it is being manipulated. It is very malleable, and can only be fixed a few times before a piece needs to be integrated back into the whole and start from the beginning. Not only will this make the piece stronger, it will make the process of finishing faster than trying to make a quick repair. We are His jars, filled with His gospels, and He is reworking our hearts in this time of "sorrow/hope" so that our hearts are able to hold his heavy, weighty words with conviction.

Let us remember that in God's hands, we are not "safe." But He is good. It's like in Narnia. It's WINTER and we're waiting for CHRISTMAS! We're waiting for Him to come and fulfill the hope and fulfill the preparation and fulfill the joy and fulfill the love. Here's my favorite part about this: He already came. So the past assures us. And Christmas will come on the 25th, as it always does. So the present assures us.

Our futures are certain. They will contain a resurrected Christ. Let us hope and, tomorrow, prepare.