This morning I am sitting here at my computer feeling defeated, frustrated and exhausted.  I hit the snooze a couple of times, attempting to deny that this day was even beginning.  I got into my workout clothes, but have yet to get started on that.  I’m positive I will hit the shower before I break a sweat today.

There’s a bunch of stuff looming on my to-do list.  There are wonderful ways that I could encourage with love, passion and enthusiasm.  It seems there are so many people walking around who are struggling with things much worse than I am.  I have tried to start a few things this morning, only to find out I didn’t have the right size box to do what I needed or I just didn’t have the words to write that card.  I just want to cry, but I don’t think I even have the energy for that. 

I had a very large cup of coffee two hours ago, but it really doesn’t seem to have any effect on my day.  My hair is pulled back in a rushed pony tail and I’m sporting my favorite baseball cap to cover that up.  I won’t even mention those extra pounds and their negative effect on my body.  I am 100% certain that no one who walks on this planet currently would look at me and consider me beautiful, especially myself.  But God does.

I am always beautiful to God.

So are you.  You are always beautiful to God.

Always, always, always, beautiful to God.

He loves you with an unending, undying love.  Because you are crafted by His hands, you are His masterpiece.  He loves that about you.

Of course He loves you when you are all polished and refined, looking your “best”, but He loves you just the same when you are at your most broken, a battered and bruised mess.

That is a truth.  God loves you.  You are always beautiful to Him.  God sees you through the eyes of perfect love with perfect clarity.  He knows it all, bare are our hearts, minds, and souls before the Lord.

I want to share a large portion of scripture that I read this morning.  It’s Romans 5:1-11 from the Message.

^“1-2 By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

^3-5 There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

^6-8 Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.

^9-11 Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we’re at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!”

I felt I just had to share this whole passage than a simple verse or two.  I also want to say that there is no way that I am going to be able to walk through the whole thing this morning.  But there are some key pieces that really meant a lot to me.  I think there is a chance that they may hug someone out there this morning too.

Have it all together: I laughed at the line, “we have it all together with God because of our master Jesus Christ”.  The laughter was really driven from the desperation of more so feeling like I am falling apart rather than holding it all together.  WITH GOD.  BECAUSE OF JESUS CHRIST.  Holding it all together, well it’s not going to happen on my own, no matter how tightly I squeeze and how feverishly I work.  It’s not my job to do it alone.

Wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory: Funny how it says that when we open our doors to God, we realize that God has already opened His door to us.  I think of all of the times I stand by the door, attempting to listen to what’s on the other side, hand on the knob, talking to myself or the door (I’m not always sure which, but I know I’m talking) about what to do.  Do I knock?  Do I just open the door?  What will happen….string of silly imagined scenarios.  If I do open the door, I think “wow, why didn’t I do that sooner?”

There’s more: There’s more?  Of course there is, this is God we are talking about here.  The Lord, who does so much and loves so much that we can not comprehend it all.  The God who can take troubles and transform them into passionate patience and virtue of steel.  God can take a tired, weary, soul and alert it to expectancy of things so great we can hardly fathom their awesomeness.  “We can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit”.  

The right time: Christ comes at the perfect time.  He doesn’t wait for us to be ready.  He comes when we are weak and rebellious.  Even if we’re not weak, we are pretty clueless.  But God’s love is so great for us that even at our absolute worst, the lowest of lows, He puts it all on the line as a gift to us, “we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of His son.”  God took our worst, still saw us as beautiful and restored an amazing relationship with Him, making us our best.

Hemmed in by troubles?  You are always beautiful to God.

Beaten down by the world?  You are always beautiful to God.

Consumed by stress and anxiety?  You are always beautiful to God.

Crushed by circumstances and consequences?  You are always beautiful to God.

Feeling ugly, exhausted and alone?  You are always beautiful to God.

Doubting whether your efforts are worth anything?  You are always beautiful to God.

Lost and searching for something?   You are always beautiful to God.

Why not open the door to God’s love and goodness?  He doesn’t care what the outfit or your hair look like.  He’s got arms wide open to hug you with.  He’s got words of affirmation to pour upon you that are not only sweet to the soul but that can bring healing to you physically.

He’s beyond the scope and constraint of time, so basically He has all the time in the world to hear about the smallest delights and tiniest frustrations you are facing.  You are His friend.  He knows you by name.  He has a sacred history with you.  He will hold it all together for you and generously pour out for you.

God thinks you are beautiful.  All the time.

You are always beautiful to God.

Beloved and Treasured Lord, 

Help us to really believe and live as though we are always beautiful to You.  Lord, it is so easy to doubt and believe that we are just an ugly, broken, mess with no value.  Yet, Your words and Your actions are so contrary to these lies that we believe and hold to.  Infuse us with Your truth and Your hope today.  Help us to be led by our faith in You rather that our feelings evoked by the world.  

Lord, please bless each of my readers today.  Open all of our eyes that we may see ourselves and the people around us with a few drops of divine clarity.  May we see people the way that You do.  May we glimpse their beauty in such a way that it would cause us to be in awe of Your artistry and creativity.  

May we pull the door open right now and run uninhibitedly into Your wide open spaces of grace and glory.  Thank You for loving us at whatever point we are at.  May we know that we are always beautiful to You, God.

In the eternally beautiful name of Jesus.  Amen.