There's a song by Michael Gungor that was popular a few years ago called “Beautiful Things”. I find the lyrics appropriate considering all that we are going through as individuals, a church, a nation, and a world. The song says:
All this pain I wonder if I’ll ever find my way I wonder if my life could really change At all
Have you ever wondered these same things? Will I ever find my way? Can my life really change? Verse 2 of the song asks two more questions – Could all that is lost ever be found? Could a garden come up from this ground? I’ve never been at the end of my rope, but I have from time to time felt some of these same feelings and asked some of these same questions. I don’t think that I am in the minority either. Many are asking if there can be anything good that will come from this virus. The world has changed, will continue to change, and just as we are thinking about and pondering the questions asked in verses 1 & 2, the chorus begins:
You make beautiful things You make beautiful things out of the dust You make beautiful things You make beautiful things out of us
Wow. Just as we are about to give in to the melancholy of the questions we are reminded of what God is capable of – of how big and awesome He is. Your life/family/career/ministry may look to you like a barren wasteland. No garden. No fruit. No life. There may not be any hope that you can see. But God delights in bringing beautiful things out of wastelands.
“But forget all that–it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland” – Isaiah 43:18-19 NLT
Really, my life is God’s garden anyway. If I would just stop trying to make something of it myself and give everything over to Him (and I mean everything), He’ll grow something more amazing than I was even trying to cultivate myself. Could the reason that life looks so barren at times be because we are trying to make something of it all by ourselves? God never intended for us to live our lives as best we can by ourselves and then one day, when we get to heaven, we can begin developing a relationship with Him. He wants you to know Him now, today, and to live your life in and through Him. You are a very special and unique garden that God wants to see flourish and become one of His beautiful things.
Verse 3
All around Hope is springing up from this old ground Out of chaos life is being found In You
You make beautiful things You make beautiful things out of dust You make beautiful things You make beautiful things out of us
