Love, Life, Living, Calendar

Sorting Beads

I learned a lesson about God one morning while sorting beads with my daughter. She'd received a beading
gift set for her birthday that contained 25,000 beads, a gift that I'd never been brave enough to buy her. They
came in all different shapes, sizes, and colors. There were little itty-bitty ones, and big fat ones. There were
purple ones, orange ones, green ones, and yellow ones. There were circular ones, crystal one, and even
cylindrical ones.

I was quite surprised, as I entered her room the morning after her party, to find almost all of those beads
mixed up and strewn all over. And beyond that, there was no container to put them in! So, to avoid further
catastrophe, I promptly began to clean the mess by sorting the beads by shape and size and placing them into
ziploc bags. In my zeal my intention was to sort and package all of those beads, down to the last one.

Before we knew it 45 minutes had passed and my daughter and I began to tire. We'd packaged a great deal of
those beads but still had thousands to go and with the passing of each minute, it began to matter less to me
about how completely sorted they were. Some of them had fallen onto the bed and were hidden in the folds of
the blanket, some of them hid underneath the blanket. Some lay in our laps, and some had fallen onto the
floor beside the bed. In my frustration I thought, okay, let's just sweep all of these remaining beads onto the
floor and vacuum them. So we'll lose a few thousand beads, it won't matter? We'll still have another 19,000 or
so beads left. Who keeps track of such minute things anyway?

That's when it hit me... God does. The Bible says in IPeter 3:9, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise
as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance." I looked at those beads, from the tiniest-tiny ones to the largest fat ones, and
thought about our lives. If I were a bead that fell to the floor, God would be searching through the fibers of
the carpet just to find me! We are all different shapes, sizes, and colors, and there are billions of us on this
planet. How easy it would be for God to just let a few slip through His fingers; to lose a few, to let them be lost
in the vacuum of sin in this world. After all, it's just a few thousand out of a few billion. But God, in His infinite
love for us, keeps searching through the fibers. He searches through the murk in our lives. He searches
through the situations we've placed ourselves in. He searches through our hurts and pains to find us and
offer us the gift of forgiveness and salvation. He searches until the tiniest-tiny one of us has been found and
offered His gift of love.

And to think I tired from sorting those beads, failing to go the distance of a few thousand more and losing them
to the carpet. Slack? Yes. The time, energy, and concern it would take to sort through to the 24,999th bead
was more than I was willing to do. Yet, God is not willing that any should perish and He is not slack concerning
His promise. Just as the Shepherd in the parable of Luke 15 leaves the ninety-nine sheep to find the one lost
sheep, so our God is long-suffering in going the extra mile for us!

So, if your life seems to be murky and jumbled and you're feeling left all alone, know that you're not. He's
sorting through the beads for you. If your situation has left you feeling dismayed, out of control, and lost,
know that there is a Saviour who is searching through the fibers of your problem for you. If you've just
awakened and realized that you've wandered far from God and can't find your way back, know that He's left the
ninety-nine to find YOU! He loves you too much to let you be lost in the blanket folds and vacuum of sin.

Only a wonderful, Heavenly Father could love us so much as to know us each by name, sort through the
contents of our lives, and account for us down to the very last bead. Thank You Lord!

Dear Lord, please help my friend who's reading this today know how much You love them and how much You want
them in Your life. Fill him/her with a sense of peace, knowing that You are right there with your arms outstretched;
ready to help,comfort, heal, and restore him/her today. You said to ask and it shall be given, so today, as we commit
our lives to You, we ask for Your ever abiding presence for now and always, In Jesus' Name- Amen

May God Bless You Today!

- Stephanie