God's Poem

 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.  Ephesians 2:10 NLT

 Often this is translated as "we are God's workmanship".  The NLT version above chooses "masterpiece".  NT Wright in his book The Case For the Psalms reminds us that the Greek work here is poiema, the same word as "poem" and that "we are called to be living, breathing, praying, singing poems".

God desires for our very lives to be works of art, poems, that draw people in and tell his story.  He is the one who has written them all "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be"  (Psalm 139)  As I face this juncture, it's hard for me to imagine being a poem for others having no idea what my next verse will be.  It's hard for me to imagine the story I tell through this poem, and yet I feel this beckoning to start telling a story, which seems strange since I know not even the topic.  Perhaps a story of what faith looks like when you can't see the next stanza, of how to be fruitful and see beauty and grace all around, when it feels like you're on pause.  

As I reflect on this idea of a poem, I am drawn to the Message version of Matthew 11 calling people to come to Jesus in order to "learn the unforced rhythms of grace."  Perhaps, for now, it's a matter of living into the rhythm of this grace poem, feeling its cadence, getting swept up in patterns of grace before the words to the next stanza come.  
The spirit drives us into the wilderness, a time away from our normal activities, a time that can feel like pause, because it's a time for us to learn what it means to walk as God's children as we approach a new verse.  The Israelites wandered before promised land, Jesus spent time in the wilderness before his ministry began.   Moses ran away from the city to be in the wilderness, wandering with the sheep, before he found holy ground, before he saw God's blaze.  It seems to be a prerequisite when God is doing something new, changing courses.  I can say it has always been for me, but usually I don't see how far I've wandered until I see the horizon of promised land.  Never before has its onset been so pronounced.  But the spirit drives us to the wilderness, a time away, to teach us new rhythms, a new song, the melody and pattern, and the heart and soul of it, so that at the right time, we are ready to sing it for all the world.  
So, I hope to share the story of what it means to wait in faith, learning the cadence, the rhythm, before the words to the next stanza of my life-poem.