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We are God’s masterpiece [poem]. 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).
The Greek word “masterpiece” comes from the Greek word “poiema,” from which we get the English word “poem.”
We are God’s masterpieces: a poem or an artistic expression of God’s will created for His purposes. When we looked in the mirror this morning, we noticed wrinkles, blemishes, graying hair, and too much weight. We didn’t say to ourselves, “Good morning, God’s masterpiece, His sonnet of grace to be displayed today in my actions, words, and calling.”
I know little of poetry, but I do remember my fifth-grade teacher saying, “Class, this week, for 30 minutes after lunch each day, I’m going to teach all of you to enjoy poetry.”
HHHHMMMHHM!
And what do you think most students did after lunch during poetry reading time?
SSSSNNNNOOORRREEEDDD!!!!
Yep, you’re right. But in the middle of the week, she began a poem with, “Class, today I’m going to read the most famous poem written by an American. The author is Robert Frost, with the title of Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Perhaps the reverie of snow falling outside the classroom windows or the nails on a chalkboard grating in the way my teacher always said, “Class!” kept me awake that day, but I listened. It was a short poem, and my teacher had 30 minutes, so she read it several times before explaining the poem’s importance.
I don’t remember my teacher’s “importance” monologue, but I do remember the following. . .
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.
It was an epiphany moment — though I didn’t understand it at the time — but throughout my life, I’ve found myself thinking “miles to go before I sleep” with too many things to do and not enough time to be quiet and still.
The “miles” to go instead of “stopping” attitude — though at first, I considered my energetic self a weakness (and all my grade school and high school teachers agreed) — I’ve since realized that it’s my poem, the way I’m created as God’s masterpiece.
During my failures, I’ve learned a bit about slowing down, but I also appreciate and don’t let others condemn the poem or words on the pages of my life that God composed. . .
So, we [I] can do the good things He planned for us [me] long ago (Ephesians 2:10b).
Miles to go before I sleep!