Stable and steadfast

Ok kids- imagine this. You’re about four years old, and you are sitting in the middle of a huge playroom with all the best toys.  Only, nothing is where it’s supposed to be. The kitchen is dumped on its side, the food is in the toolbox which is way over on the other side, the race cars are hiding all over the place.  You see a bright red Mega block so you think you’ll build a tower, but no, there are no more blocks- wait- there’s one over there but still. It’s a really lame tower.  Mom comes in and looks around, and five minutes later you have a bucket of Mega blocks, or a well stocked kitchen, or a great racetrack with 5 cars to choose from- one faster than the other.  Everything has been put right and is working the way it should.

This is an overly simple analogy for our next verses in Colossians but stay with me just a minute. Mom and Dad bought you all those toys, set up your playroom, and made sure you had everything you need to learn and grow while having fun.  As a four year old, it would take you about 3.4 minutes to mess the whole thing up, right? But nothing makes sense, nothing fits right when you are done. You need Mom or Dad to come fix it.

That’s the way I see this passage.  We have this big, beautiful, amazing world God created in Christ.  We have taken the last several thousand years to mess it all up, but Jesus came back and showed us what it is supposed to look like.  And as long as we keep looking at him, he continues to make sense of it all, bringing joy and meaning and purpose to our lives and our world.  Some days, our lives not only feel like that chaotic playroom, they actually are filled with chaos and pain.  But if we stay true, stay focused, stay patient, stable, steadfast in our faith we know our Christ will bring healing.

Father, thank you for this beautiful world you have made, and the place you have given us within it.  Thank you for the way it all fits together in Christ, for how he is our beginning and end and everything in between. I pray these children whom I love with remain focused on you throughout their lives; that we all will.  I pray we will bring all our questions and doubts and fears and hopes to you so that our faith will grow daily along with our love for Jesus.  #prayersformychildren