Angels ...

As I attended a funeral yesterday for my friend's 95 year old Grandma Ruth I have been pondering some deep things ... love and life, death and heaven, God's love and creation ...

I was thinking about the angels I've been making and certain people I want to gift them to. What would I say about my Journey Angels? How do I explain the inspiration behind them? Journey was our baby, tiny and "un-born", true, but our baby all the same, created by God, for His purposes, created to bring God Glory (as all creation is). At first creating these beaded angels was just for soothing, and for healing for my broken heart and crushed spirit ... but as I've gazed at them and talked with God about them God has whispered lessons to me.

I pick up glass beads and metal pins and place them together to make this small little angel. A body, some wings, a head and a halo; then twist the metal pin to form a loop on top. I choose beads carefully, matching certain colors, certain sizes. But always with love and always hoping that this little creation will go on to bless another somewhere, someday. Beads are not perfect ... some have bumps or bubbles, or cracks. Some beads don't fit well next to other beads ... sometimes I rearrange the beads before I finish. Its fun to see so many colors and shapes and sizes of little angels hanging on my kitchen window ... they bring me joy.

God reminded me today that I'm a bit like one of my angles ... only GOD is my creator, he picked the color and size and shape that I would be ... I'm not perfect thats for sure and He knows that. He sees the cracks and bumps and bubbles in me... yet he chooses me anyway. He hangs me where the world can see and I am meant to bring Him Glory and pleasure. He has a plan for me ... thousands of years ago He knew I would live here and now. Crazy, huh? He knows my babies, tiny as they were ... he knows my living children and placed then here ... He knows 95 year old grandmas and how their life was planned to intertwine with ours. We are not alone here, we are affected by each life we meet and cross paths with. Each life is another of God's creations, a creation he loves ... he knows about the bumps and the cracks and he loves us anyway.

My tiny angle baby Journey has impacted my life, my prayers, my thoughts and today so has Grandma Ruth ... she impacted many lives in her years and some of those lives turned out to be my good friends ... friends who have blessed me and taught me, loved me and comforted me. Such an intricate plan, how He weaves us all together.