I'm always amazed at how a pile of lumber becomes a monument of usefulness and sometimes, outright beauty. What about a basket full of fabric scraps? If you have doubts about the potential contained in those carefully planned and scissor-ed pieces, visit any quilt display. If you're as fortunate as I am, you could even visit your living room where a gift of art rests gently on the back of the chesterfield (also known as sofa or couch). Then there is music, beautiful music (beauty defined, of course, by personal taste). Be it jazz, blues, country, gospel, classical or any other genre, someone has taken single notes and transformed them into melodies, harmonies, symphonies. So it is with words and marble, it is in their brokenness and re-arranged characteristics that their beauty and power are revealed.
Throughout the ages, the ability to change and adapt became possible because of the skills of everyday people. Even in the course of my lifetime, discoveries have included deciphering medical mysteries and moving the evening news from descriptive words to live shots of events. In horrific times of war, there were those individuals who mastered codes that revealed enemy plans. Closer to the present, our society has been irreversibly altered by the development of the world wide web. Though there are days I loath its constant intrusion into my world, I couldn't imagine living without checking my email or searching the Internet for things as mundane as finding directions to a friend's new home.
Craftsmanship demands learning, time, dedication and even failure. Of all God's creation He counts us as His greatest masterpiece and He spares no effort in working His beauty through us.
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV)
