You are a STUNNING MASTERPIECE!

You are a marvelous and unique creation.  Never before and never again has there EVER been another like you.  Your combination of talents, experiences, hopes, dreams, skills, joys and abilities, are completely original.  Do you know how incredible that is?

Do you know how incredible you are?

According to worldometers.info, there are approximately 7.2 billion people alive right now.  The Population Reference Bureau estimates that there have been about 108 billion people who ever lived on earth.  That is a number just too large for me to fathom and I have no clue how these numbers were ascertained.

What I do know is this, I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that in 108 billion there were no repeats.  There have been so many times in my life that I have felt like just a nameless face in the crowd.  Anyone could do the things that I have done and the things that I do.  All they would have to do is try, right?

My foolish mind is quick to reason that if I am like so many others, I must not be worth as much.  Those who really stand out from the crowd, now they have value.

My mind can think some really bad things.  This is one of them.

The fact that we are alive right now in this time and this place makes us different from 100.8 billion people who came before us.

Wow, I’m starting to feel more unique already.

I could take just the number of people who were born in the same year in the United States of America.  According to the CDC website there were approximately 3.6 million babies born in the same year I was.  A rough estimate of 365 days a year would say that there were about 9,800 babies born a day.

If I had the statistics I could keep whittling down my number.  But do you see how quickly I have gone from being 1 of 108 billion to 1 of 9,800.

This is before one even begins to factor in the complicated stuff like what color my hair & eyes are, how tall I am, who my family is, where I went to school, what I ate for dinner last night and the things that make me laugh.

Top that off with my favorite books, my favorite pictures, memories that make me cry, the choices I wished I had made and the choices I am glad I made.  It is getting easier to see how I could be a unique individual.

Perhaps you are thinking right now, that being unique does not make one a master piece.  It could just make one different.

Webster.com defines a masterpiece as “a work done with extraordinary skill”.

To me, that definition fits perfectly with what you and I are.  How could you be you and I be me, if there was not extraordinary skill involved?

I find it very interesting that the definition of a masterpiece does not include the words “random” or “by chance”.  Here are the definitions of some of the key words

Work: a sustained physical or mental effort to overcome obstacles and achieve an objective

“For you created my inmost being.  You knit me together in my mother’s womb.”  Psalm 139:13 NIV

Extraordinary: extremely good or impressive

“I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:14 NIV

Skill: the ability to use one’s knowledge effectively and readily in execution or performance

“Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.”  Psalm 139:6 NIV

“For we are God’s masterpiece.”

Ephesians 2:10a NLT

We were made by the effort of God’s hand, His extraordinary skill, His creativity and His timing – all of which are perfect and beyond the scope of our meager comprehension.

You are a masterpiece.  I am a masterpiece.

Dear and Beloved Lord,

May this truth resonate to the depths our souls today.  May it be our joy and our strength.  May it help us to feel valuable and loved.  May it help us to value and love those around us. 

Lord, when we doubt, remind us over and over and over and over again that we are a masterpiece.  Help us to not feel lost in the crowds, but to savor our uniqueness through our relationship with You.  You are the God and creator of all who poured forth your effort, time and skill so that we may be here and now. 

Thank You Lord.  Thank You for making me who I am.  Thank You for the way You have so perfectly molded each of my readers into a priceless masterpiece.  The most amazing part is that for a few small moments You have allowed us the opportunity to draw near to each other through these words.  May it just cause us to be in awe and praise You for who You are. 

In Jesus’ name, amen