“Open up before God, keep nothing back; he’ll do whatever needs to be done: He’ll validate your life in the clear light of day and stamp you with approval at high noon.” (Psalm 37:5-6, The Message)

My mother-in-law is a woodworker.  After the death of her husband, someone encouraged her to take up a hobby.  She started attending a Senior’s center and signed up for woodworking.  It has been over 10 years since she began working with wood.  As of today, she is now teaching the woodworking class where she was once a student.  I marvel at the projects she completes.  She is really good.  Our home is full of pieces she has crafted.  I love listening to her describe the process of taking a piece of wood, cutting it, sanding it, putting lacquer or some other finisher on it and then sanding it again to make it smooth.  She goes into great detail describing the long process from start to finish.  The wood she begins with never looks like it did the first day she got it.  She transforms it into a useful item like a cutting board, a desk, a jewelry box or a hallway table.  A piece of wood in my mother-in-law’s hand is destined to never remain as it did in its past.

And in the hands of God, our lives are destined to never be the same.  The bumps and bruises we received in the course of our life is not in the care of a loving God who will o whatever it takes to “smooth us” out.  He will break us, mold us, shape us and finish us up.  He presents us to himself, a work of art fashioned by his own hands.  And just like my mother-in-law, who burns her name on her work, God will place his stamp of approval on your life.  The past does not define you. God’s work on and in your life now defines you.