Bonjour mon amis! Just to fill all of you in, I graduated from G42 Leadership Academy this past Thursday and as a graduation present to myself I am spending 4 1/2 days in Paris, France! I wanted to be able to decompress and see the city of lights while I was already in Europe, so why not? It has always been a dream of mine to come here and trot around this stunning city and I am loving it so much!
For those of you who have never gone to Paris, I am going to let you in on a little secret: this is one of the most beautiful and extravagant places I’ve ever seen. Everything from the rococo metro designs, highly ornate architecture, tres chic textiles and fashion, sumptuous historical expressions, potent culinary flavors, absolute artistic prowess and incredible baroque basiliques are just a few of the stunning things I have seen while I have been here. Every day and every corner takes the breath out of me and I am so thankful that I am getting to experience as much as I already have.
Keeping all of that in mind, I was tromping around the neighborhood of Monte Martre yesterday (aka the bohemian hub on the hill) and I wandered over to Sacre Coeur, one of the oldest and most beautiful Basilicas in Paris. It goes without saying that it was over the top and supremely fantastic and I definitely muttered my fair share of “wows”. As I made my rounds to all of the photo stops, I finally sat down in one of the pews with all of the other tourists only to stare up at one seriously bedazzled Jesus.
Now, knowing that the One who sits at the throne of the right hand of God and is the Lord of all Lords and the King of all Kings has the unlimited treasures of Heaven, knowing that He knows who He is and doesn’t have to be reminded (but rejoices in it all the same) really made me furrow my eyebrows at seeing such a bling bling Jesus. Mind you, my breath was taken at just how ostentatious a religious super-dome could be and even more at just how much creativity was necessary to make something that was so explosive in grandeur.
As much as I wanted to just get frustrated with the excess, I couldn’t help but notice that something was blocking me from really seeing this place in the way Christ would want me to. In my amazement and bewildered curiosity I asked Him “You don’t need all of this, do you?” to which He replied “We don’t need anything. This place is just a few expressions of the creativity instilled within all of you and the wonderful expressions of the Glory of Our Kingdom. Everything that is good is a way of showing you who We are and how much we love you. Take a look around and see just how we are glorified in all that there is. Don’t try and fight it, just look around and see just how awesome it is. You’ll see.” What? Now I have heard of God’s creativity but I had never really tried to recognize everything as a way to reveal His creative nature and the goodness of all that He has made for us… and what an gift of understanding for Jesus to give me in PARIS!
With the newness and simplicity of this lovely revelation, I put it into practice and started to see everything differently. I visited the Louvre, the infamous Paris shopping district and the Notre Dame Cathedral, progressively appreciating more and more of God’s breath in every sculpture, every painting and every unbelievably unique article of clothing until something unexpected happened: I slowly started to see Him show the ultimate authenticity He put into every single person. I saw Him, the original artist, sculpting and building human beings in His image and making us all into His positively fantastic sons and daughters. For the first time, I understood what it meant to be fearfully and wonderfully made. I first saw all that glorified Him around me that came from the hands of man but one big thing finally clicked: each one of us is a handmade masterpiece.
Now I know this might sound a little crazy but I want you to try and really appreciate just how wonderful it is to recognize this aspect of His wild and crazy love for us. How much God delights in exactly how He made you and how overjoyed He gets just seeing you be exactly the work of art He made you to be is part of the passion of His being. All of us are incredibly blessed to be exactly who we are. He is an incredible Father and the designer of His kids. He didn’t just throw some chromosomes into a womb and wait 9 months to see what came out- He carved you out perfectly and breathed life into your lungs. He knew exactly what He wanted when He made you and did not make a mistake on a single hair on your head or a freckle on your skin. Just think about how great it is to know that you have been made by God, the creator of the stinking universe and everything in it!
It’s a great thing to know that He is mad artist that is bonkers about you and loves you enough to give you exactly what you’ve got. Even more than that, He wants to give you the rights to the unlimited treasures of Heaven and the domain of His Kingdom here on earth. He is a good Dad who wants to keep giving you good things and show you more of His goodness and in turn showing you more of how He specifically made you to be. He is the most excellent Father and the master of all creativity. He is the only one who can grant us these great things He gives us and He instills His nature and His heart into all of us. He made us this way! He created us to be just like Him! Man, what a great Father. Knowing what position that He is in, He shouldn’t even look at us or acknowledge us but instead He loves us and made us to have a relationship with Him, His Son and the Spirit of His Son. Rejoice and let Him know… He already knows all that He has done but He is a God to be praised. Hallelujah!
