Holes

Published by christi on October 3, 2019October 3, 2019

Temperatures in my neck of the woods have finally dropped low enough to think about sitting outside on the porch for breakfast or quiet time.

The patio table has sported its pretty cover all summer long undisturbed, collecting fine dirt and dust, the accumulation of six months of lawn mowing, dust storms and general neglect. (Why clean it when no one is going to use it?)

Removing the plastic lace table cloth revealed a clue to a mystery that troubles most of us: How in the world can we display God’s glory when we are so full of flaws, so riddled with holes and covered in dirt?

Most of us cringe when we see our flaws and try to hide them by managing our circumstances: “If I just don’t go to that place, or watch that show, I will do better.”

When someone calls us out on our sin, we defend ourselves, trying to make someone else responsible:  “If you wouldn’t have done this, then I wouldn’t have had to do that or respond in that way.”

Perhaps we justify or rationalize our guilt away by making a reasonable case for our bad choices: “My parents did not model x, y or z for me. Their wounds leave me no choice in this.”

Or we just decide, whatever it is, that we must work harder, grit our teeth and pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps… with the result that we are exhausted, require expensive dental work and repeated chiropractic adjustments…and still sin, fail and are lacking.

So…what are we to to?

The hint is in what I saw when I removed the table cover: a perfect imprint of the design in negative on the smooth glass top.

It is the careful planning of the holes that make lace a thing of beauty. The genius of the Designer is displayed by what it NOT there.

It is not intended to block the light, but to let it through.

So it is with us: our Designer made us with holes so He could shine through. Even the dirt that accumulates because of them reflects His glory.

Let us join the apostle Paul in boasting in our weakness that the power of God might be made known! It’s not about us, but about Him!

Following Jesus every day in the everyday!

Christi

P.S. Where have you seen Him shine through your holes?