A little girl sitting at the kitchen table, pen and paper in hand, creating her own world as the words spill out onto the page. An imagination that creates new people, places and stories as they unfold in her mind. This little girl would rather write than play with her toys on a rainy dreary day. She would much rather create magic and enchantment through the words she is creating on the page.

Ever since I was little, I’ve had a passion for writing and words. (So probably no surprise that my college major was communications with an emphasis in journalism and an English minor) As I grew older, I ventured further into the writing world…writing more than just stories, but now delving into poetry and other forms of writing. As I craft a poem, I realize how healing and holy the process of creating is for me. As the words spill onto the page, sentences form into stanzas which form into completed poems which are lifted to God in prayer. For me, my poems often are the Word made flesh as those poems are my prayers lifted to God like incense rising.

Sometimes the words leak onto the page and create holy tears in the form of a story or poem. Sometimes the words seem to be trapped until they are finally unlocked and over-flowingly spill onto the page without a second glance. And sometimes those words come to life the minute the pen hits the paper or the fingers tap the keyboard. No matter how they come, the words always build into a beautiful piece of art which often embodies the Word made flesh.

And like our own poems, stories, and works of art, we are created by a God who loves and claims us as God’s beloved children. A God who knows every desire of our heart. A God who knows every hair on our head. A God who gifts us each with unique gifts and responsibilities. A God who mastered us each into God’s own masterpieces.

“Still, God, you are our Father. We’re the clay and you’re our potter. All of us are what you made us!”-Isaiah 64:8; The Message translation

Last night, I was scrolling through my Twitter feed when I came across a quote from the Breathe Writers Conference which is being held in Michigan. One of the speakers Elizabeth Ivy said, “You are God’s poem. God’s artwork.” As a writer and poet, I love that image. God is the master creator; a creator who turns words into magnificent works of poetry named YOU and ME. God is the master potter who takes clay and shapes it into who we are as God’s beloved children. God, the creator, who when God is finished creating states “It is good” and reminds us that as God’s master works of art; as God’s own poetry, “fearfully and wonderfully made” we are loved.

In fact, as “beloved, broken, blessed children of God,” our stories and our brokenness are beautiful in God’s eyes. Our own brokenness is what makes the masters poem of us the most beautiful works of art to grace this world; a reminder that in this broken world, God still turns our brokenness into beautiful magnificent works of art.