Last week, after a month of framing a storybook to thank a very special woman of God, the gift was presented to her. Honestly, I felt relief that the mission was accomplished, and a sole heart was applauded for the work of her soul. God’s inspiration and influence was felt every stroke of depicting her storybook. Throughout the writing process, there was no detail too insignificant not to be under the eye of proof-reading scrutiny.
Post presentation, the draft copy was being filed away when my thought was to enjoy one last read. I didn’t get beyond page one when my stomach dropped in dismay. There was a blatant name “autocorrect” mistake I had not caught. Imposible, I thought; but there it was glaring at me. My reflex reaction was “God, how can this be? YOU were the composer/writer. I was merely the pencil pusher.” God’s response not only spoke His wisdom but, also, led me to His overlooked message that my pencil holding fingers had failed to grasp but now longed to be included.
In honoring God’s special lady, I pictured only what reflected the Divine. God’s message to be inserted was the grace to re-define. Those who walk most close to God rest in the understanding that God does not expect (nor intend for) them to be 100% perfect. At the start of many of the greatest stories of life, a mistake is often present, but by its end all can be corrected. God’s greatest of creations grasp that He does not expect nor measure them by being every moment perfect. Exceptionally giving and gifted does not mean without mistake. Those, who best walk in God’s image, understand their footprints do not (and cannot) fill His shoes. With grace and mercy, God loves and values them both in their weaknesses and their strengths. God’s tallest standing children lean into the security of realizing mistakes are part of all lives; but as the pages of lives are turned, flaws can disappear. The page of a life’s story that best defines a special child of God is not the first sheet but the last leaf.
Having absorbed God’s lesson, one declaration repeated in my heart. “As the pages of lives are turned, flaws can disappear.” Could it be, I wondered? The “autocorrect” misspelling on page one of the storybook impacted my heart as a major downfall. This same word appeared once more on the last page of the narrative. Was it possible the final prose would correct the “auto” misdirection? Would God so boldly write this story? Amazingly, God did just that. Upon the final page, the worldly mistake was divinely corrected and restored.
Indeed, our Heavenly Father’s hand had written an epilogue to the storybook honoring this very special woman of God. It reads: “Though there are times when you suffer worldly failure, your success is knowing the beginning from the end. You diagnose the disease of imperfections not as a final misspelled word but rather as a first humanly flawed page in a chapter story of life on earth. Yours is the heavenly understanding that by the last page all mistakes are able to be washed away through your caring heart, your humble soul and the cure of God’s forgiveness, grace and mercy.”.
May this epilogue be one God might also pen for each of us.
Uplifted in a Broken Down World 