You Are God's Poem by Mandy Baker Johnson

I had one of those eureka moments in church the other Sunday.

The speaker said that in the original language Paul used when he wrote to the Ephesian church, we are God's poem.

In our English translations it says we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which the Father has already prepared beforehand for us.

This passage in Ephesians 2 is one of my favourites. All about God's grace towards me when I was dead to God and a rebel. How His gift to me was faith to believe in Him so that I can know how wonderful and kind His rich grace is. Wow. Some God!

I also love that He has stuff for me to do which He has planned specifically for me. Wow again!

But that I am His poem. That's beautiful. Because that means I am His precious work of art.

As writers, we can relate to this poem God is writing, can't we?

We know the joy of skilfully crafting words, that mix of frustration and elation when the characters we've created come to life and go their own way with little regard for us, their creators.

We've all experienced those debilitating grrrhhh! moments when we have to cross out wrong words, sentences, whole paragraphs and even chapters that don't fit or read wrong or just don't work. We edit and edit and edit to make our work better. And often, even when we've done our best, there may still be the odd typo that's slipped through. There's always something we feel we could have done better, perhaps.

But this poem that God is writing is alive. Even when the main character goes her own way, He skilfully weaves it into the main story, bringing good out of bad, making beauty from mess. He never has to go back and edit. There are no crossings out. And somehow, in the hands of this Master Craftsman, one day it will be the most beautiful poem ever written.

Because this poem is about a child of God, who the Father loves as much as He loves His firstborn Son. A mystery.

But then, mysteries make the best reads, don't they?





Mandy Baker Johnson is a private medical secretary and freelance writer. She enjoys blogging and has recently co-authored her first book, Drawn from Words. She volunteers with a Christian charity working with women in the sex industry.