Creator and Created

What it means to be Wonderfully Made by Christina Bailey

A reflection poem that was shared at our October Pause Gathering

God, the Alpha, the Omega

Beginning, End and In-Between

Spoke a word, breathed on dust

Brought our substance into being

From first spark to every cell division 

Deep in that secret place

Our inward parts were woven

Every intricate atom, organ and sinew.

He saw it then and still continues 

To keep us within view 

Is there one cell of cancer in our bodies 

and He does not know it? 

A thyroid out of balance or virus invading  

That He cannot see?

Every single day of our lives is written-

by the Master's hand, 

kept in His book

Nary a plot twist that wasn't devised 

carefully plotted by the Author of our lives.

Were He an uncaring, distant or angry God, 

such knowledge would terrify.

But no-our Creator is love itself. 

He is faithful and steadfast, 

Constant and True. 

Working all things for good

For me and for you.

Even things like aging. 

Weakness. Accidents. Diseases. 

Even the things that shatter our plans, paralyze and seize us.

These pages in our stories, these chapters in our lives, 

have meaning and purpose. 

They are moments that define;

Often pushing us past our limits, 

Bringing us to the other side.

Looking back over more than half a century

I have known my share

Of sadness and anxiety

But He never once left me.

Search me, O God, and know my heart.

I’m ready for your examination

But am I? 

Am I willing to lay myself open?

Such a vulnerable prayer, 

such a precarious position!

And then there I am, quite literally

Wearing a thin blue gown

Holding the last shreds of my dignity

Standing in front of a mammoth machine

Holding my breath for a count of four

Then switch sides and do it once more

Discomfort is par for the course

Yet every year I go and I submit

Because ignorance isn’t bliss.

And what you don’t know

You can’t fix.

Search me. Try me.

Know my anxieties.

Find the malignancies

Take that double-edged scalpel

Do your exploratory surgeries

Spirit and soul, joint and marrow

Heart and flesh – it all may fail.

Yet You, Lord Jesus, never will.

For even to my old age

My hair turned grey

My weakened knees

You are the One who carries me.

“I have made and I will bear”

“Come to Me.”

“Cast your cares.”

It doesn’t matter how foggy my brain

Or whether I can stand

Without an excess of pain.

You are the God who will sustain.

You give me strength when I am weak

In every season, valley and peak

You alone are my Rock

My Refuge

My Prince of Peace.