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A floral designer creates with intention. They carefully plan a design choosing the appropriate shape, colour and flowers to use so that the arrangement fulfills the purpose for which it is made. Is the arrangement meant to cheer someone up in the midst of the drear days of winter? A bright cheerful mix of yellows, pinks, purples, oranges and blues can do the trick. Is it meant to express sympathy and sadness? Muted tones are preferred. Will it sit on a desk, counter, table, or mantle? Too big and it won’t fit on a desk. Too small and it will get lost on a mantle. As the design is created each flower has its place and if it doesn’t sit quite right it gets moved to another place more suited to its shaped and colour. Even the greens included in an arrangement are there for a purpose. They give shape, fill in blank spaces or add a note of interest to the whole. Every flower, stick, leaf, ribbon, decoration and vose is handpicked and chosen for its colour and shape. A beautiful arrangement is the result of the intentional design of the creator.
The same is true of each one of us. We were created with great care and intention by the ultimate creator, God. You are not here by accident. No, you were created with intention and care for a specific purpose. The first two chapters of the Bible describe the creation of humanity in two different ways. In Genesis 1 God speaks and declares “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” indicating that the creation of humanity is a result of God’s word and plan. Genesis 2, on the other hand, paints a picture of God fashioning humanity with his hands, “Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature.” This second picture indicates that God is intimately involved in our creation. Picture a potter at his wheel carefully forming a piece of clay with hands caked with mud. Or a knitter working her needles to create a cozy sweater or pair of shoes. The Bible uses both images to describe God. In Psalm 139 the author addresses God saying,
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“For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
The author stands amazed at God’s intentional and intimate work in bringing him into being. The prophet Isaiah described God as a potter when he said, “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.” Just as the florist designer deliberately and carefully places each flower in its place, and as the potter gently molds a piece of clay or a knitter counts her stitches, so God’s hands were at work when you were formed. He created you with abilities, preferences, tastes, talents, purpose and personality unique to you. This means he knows you intimately and better than you know yourself. He knows the skill you have that you haven’t discovered yet. He knows the complexities of your personality and the reasons you do the things you do. Its all part of his artistic masterpiece that is you. So next time you see a beautiful floral arrangement or piece of art remember that behind that artistic design is a designer who designed with intention just as God designed you and me with intention and purpose to be His artistic masterpieces.