I had a thought today, well, let’s be real – it was more like a revelation from the Lord – too good to have come from my head.

As I looked at the artwork I had done hanging on my wall, I was not pleased with it. I kept thinking about all the things I would change and how I would do it differently. I then felt that still small voice (otherwise known as the Holy Spirit) say “critical eye.” He brought up how I don’t think that way about the artwork given to me by my friends. I just accept them as they are and think they are beautiful.

Of course he wasn’t just saying that to say it, he paralleled that to my own life. How I pick at myself and am constantly critical of how I’m made and think of all the ways I would change myself to be “better.” When I look at other people though, I think they are beautiful. I don’t pick them apart and wish they were something different than how God made them.

God challenged me to look at myself as His artwork. He put such thought and took such care in creating me. Would I criticize anything he created? Do I look at the ocean, or the skies, or the majestic mountains with a critical and unaccepting eye and think of all the ways I would change it to make it better? No! I accept it as his creation, more than that, I think it is beautifully and wonderfully made.

Do I believe he made me or not? Do I believe he knit me together or not? Am I not fearfully and wonderfully made? Am I not HIS workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works? Who am I to criticize anything God has created?

Do I believe God is perfect and doesn’t make mistakes or not?

I am convicted of my thoughts and feelings toward myself. “Look beloved, there’s a better way. I love you too much to let you continue on in this frame of mind. You are causing damage to yourself. Let’s move out of this beloved.”

Just as I am beautiful to the minutest detail, so is the artwork I created. I can accept me as complete, not lacking anything.

What are you believing about yourself?