M&M's: Mud to Masterpiece

Ever since I can remember, M&M’s have been one of my favorite treats.  It never occurred to me that God would use this sweet and satisfying candy to connect with my deepest, darkest humanness.  Isn’t that the way God works though?  He takes our trash and makes it beautiful in His perfect way!  Sour to sweet! 

He offers a “fresh start.”  He picks us up from the mud and creates a masterpiece...with His touch.  The Holy Spirit began speaking these words to my heart at our church picnic a couple of weeks ago.  I stood on the sidelines and watched my tenacious and adventurous associate pastor slide through a mud puddle.  He had one purpose:  to raise money for missions!  He was willing to get “dirty” for a ‘beautiful’ cause.  I watched from afar and visually could see his entire body covered in mud.  His beaming smile overpowered that ‘mud’ as he pointed to Heaven and shouted, “Praise You, Jesus!” 

The Holy Spirit continues to resurface this portrayal of mud.  God is so gracious to not leave me ‘stuck in the mud.’  He continues to whisper, “Your mud is My masterpiece.”

 This past Sunday, I was in the worship service for a matter of minutes.  Our guest worship leader spoke of how his daughter began running into the mud…he tried to stop her.  Too late…she ran faster and leaped into mud!  He began to hear his Heavenly Father speak tenderly, “She is just like you.”  I heard words of grace as he spoke…undeserving grace…but unconditional grace.  Grace that only our Father can offer.  Grace that offers complete freedom…the only catch…we must be willing to receive this.  We have power through the Holy Spirit who sets us free.  When we trust, that trust breaks through to complete freedom.  HOPE is found. 

One would think God would have broken through to the core of my being.  Not yet.  He spoke these words a third time.  I picked up the book,Fresh Start by Doug Fields.  I read, “We may think we’re unstuck, but we still have one leg deeply planted in the mud.”

For perfectionists like myself, it’s difficult to see past the mud.  It is difficult to allow God to remove the “mud.”  We feel we deserve to stay in the mud.  Maybe only one foot remains in the mud…but God wants to rescue us from the mud.  He wants to wash us clean and allow thatmud to mold into a masterpiece.  He wants to take our mud…and make a beautiful thing out of it.  He wants to give us a fresh start…each and everyday.  What is your ‘mud?’ How will you allow God to create a masterpiece?

Psalm 40:2, “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”