Mess or Masterpiece?

You have to look beyond the messy, crumpled paper. And beyond the messy, sloppy writing.

This document was my masterpiece.

The first week of kindergarten, we were told to write a story. The best writers would read their stories aloud to the entire class. I worked very hard on my story.

“Once there was a flower with glasses.”

Not a bad opening line! Especially for a 5-year-old. So, I committed the “there was” crime, but I avoided the “upon a time” cliche. And I introduced a mystery from the get-go: why on earth would a flower wear glasses?

“The flower with glasses was thinking of taking the glasses off.”

Okay, so I hadn’t mastered action or dialogue. But I had the “soul of wit” — brevity! (Clearly a skill I’ve since lost!) And I left my readers with a cliffhanger: what choice did the flower with glasses ultimately make? Glasses on? Glasses off?

Sadly, my flower character chose to remain ambiguous, even ambivalent. Thirty-eight years later, and still no sequel.

But thanks to this crumpled, sloppy piece of paper, I’ve been a writer for thirty-eight years. I don’t remember much about kindergarten, but I well recall the swell of satisfaction I felt when I read my little story … er, my masterpiece! … and sat back down amid enthusiastic applause from my classmates and my teacher.

God calls me His masterpiece. Sure, He sees the messes in my life. But he looks beyond them. Far beyond the messes, to the masterpiece I am becoming.  Slowly. Looking rather crumpled and sloppy along the way, I’m afraid. It’s kinda discouraging, sometimes.

When I get discouraged, re-reading “The Flower With Glasses” not only makes me smile, it also reminds me that this mess-to-masterpiece transformation is a process.

Now, I understand the writing process. Talking about messy! For me, it usually involves taking one step forward and ten steps back.

But all the messiness, and every one of the steps, is part of the process.

The process of creating a masterpiece.

The process of becoming His masterpiece.