Chosen for a Purpose

I scan the ground for the favored cones as I stand below the big pine tree above our house. These are of the tiny variety but further into the woods I'll find larger ones. Due to the abundance of fruit, care can be taken to select ones that are plump and unbroken.  None of them are perfect; many are turned on the end and somewhat crooked, their stems curled in an unusual fashion. Occasionally one will be totally closed up, having fallen before maturity and never exposed to the elements enough to spread its fingery scales apart. These little quirks seem to give each cone its own character, if pinecones can have character.  Pinecones and acorns are like little treasures to me. I like to think of acorns as "oaknuts", for someone referred to them that way once and I have always chuckled at the term.  Each year the tree drops these little gems which can be collected and kept in a bowl or painted and displayed in a small arrangement somehow, for no real use, simply to be enjoyed by those of us who take pleasure in them.  I am sure the the Lord never intended them for this purpose, but only for the use of propagating a new generation of the same tree.  I am thankful, however, that He knows me through and through; that I am of a simpler sort. It does not take much to bring me pleasure, therefore I can look at a bowl of acorns and tiny pinecones as an art-form. Thus far, I have not been rebuked in my spirit for the exercise, so conclude that He's not offended by it at all.

As I am bending low to gather my 'finds' I spy a bright bluejay feather. Feathers are another thing that I am quite fascinated by. Last year we had a neighbor bring us an entire turkey-back. I had never dreamed that one bird could hold so many iradescent, jewel-toned feathers! Many of you know that my husband ties earrings (as well as fishing flies). The colors on a turkey range from shiny browns to emerald green, black-blues, russet and deep cranberry.  I have used the long tailfeathers to paint on. These are considered an art within an art to me.The feather alone is so beautiful, but once the head of a wood duck or mallard is added, though I have seen artists do much prettier jobs than myself, it is really something to behold. I use them as bookmarks or to display standing out of a vase and occasionally even give them as gifts.

While I choose my plump pinecones from the needled ground, I am reminded of the fact that I have been chosen by God.  "According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love." it says in Ephesians 1:4.  I have been reading through the gospels in past weeks. So many times Jesus chose Peter, James and John to be with him for special events.  It was these three who went with him to the mount, where he was transfigured before them. These three were also chosen to go with Jesus to the garden, where he told them to watch and pray with him. As he was going to heal the daughter of Jairus, the ruler of the synagoge, he took with him Peter, James and John (Mark 5:37). Today I read in Mark chapter 10, the account of James and John asking that they might sit at his right hand and his left in heavenly glory. Jesus asked whether they could drink of the cup that he drank of and be baptized with the baptism that he was baptized with. They replied in the affirmative and Jesus agreed that they indeed would suffer and die in much the same way that he would. Jesus himself had prepared them for their future ministry and even their future death. He declared, however, that to sit at his right and left hand in glory was to be given to those for whom it was "prepared" and that it would be determined by God the Father. What a blessing it must have been to walk with the Lord on this earth and for him to choose you to be with him for special events in ministry. Certainly, Peter, too was prepared and used in a very particular way to minister in the early church.

As one who has trusted Jesus' death and shed blood to take away my sin, however, I have been chosen to walk with him daily through life also. He stooped down and chose me. He "plucked me out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings". I am to be something for the Lord to take pleasure in. When he "displays me" in his bowl of christianity, I ought to be a joy for him to behold. What a priviledge it is to be a child of God!

I have gathered my cones and acorns and will take them to use as specimens of God's glory. Though each has its own peculiarities, each is such a beautiful creation to behold.

Lord, make me, as do these treasures, into something that brings proper glory to you.