Short and Sweet

Drawing Set -- It's what sits on the desk to the left of the keyboard.

But what does a drawing set have to do with musings, with children, an unfinished baker, and leadership?  Nothing, but everything.

It's an 18 piece drawing set:  8 graphite pencils, 3 charcoal pencils, 1 sketch stick, 2 charcoal sticks, 1 pencil sharpener, 1 charcoal sharpener, 1 kneaded eraser, and 1 white plastic eraser, all neatly arranged and sealed inside a plastic case.  It's a collection of tools, or instruments, one uses to give life to a creative idea.  Given to me by my oldest daughter for Christmas, it sits waiting, waiting for me to once again enjoy the feel of a pencil sketching the beauty of the world around me.

This unfinished baker is nothing but clay in the hands of her Lord, resistant to His shaping at the pottery wheel, but knowing that without yielding the beautiful piece cannot reach potential, an outcast of the artist's creation.  Unfinished?  Yes, because we cannot be truly complete until the End.  Unfinished?  Yes, because like bread dough and like clay, we are affected by stressors and unless our faith is strong enough to yield completely, we become soft or unmalleable and we cannot be molded to the desired loaf or pot.  Unfinished?  Yes, because without shape and form, we cannot take our place as the light, the center, of His design for us.

Unfinished?  Yes, I am unfinished.  There are so many things I have wanted to do in my life, dreams that have gone undone but today I begin anew.  Today I choose to write.  Today I choose to draw.  Today I choose to use my God-given leadership skills and make a difference.  While I cannot change where I live and I cannot change what I do at this point in time, I can change my attitude toward my situation and pick up the pencils and fill your days with beauty and honor and hope.

My children are leading.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,  because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (John 1:2-4)