Complete!

As we drove to church on Resurrection Sunday, I thought to myself how glad I was to not be a pastor and have to come up with a fresh new Easter message every year. But then, of course, I re-winded my thoughts and remembered what an awesome God we serve who does indeed have something fresh for us, not just every year, but every day!

One of the fresh thoughts that I encountered this Easter had to do with completion. There are many things in life that make us feel complete....

When I was a child, some cruel dentist once pulled 6 of my teeth in one sitting! I'm sure she had a good reason, but to this day I really dislike going to the dentist. After that awful experience, however, my mother took me straight to the toy store and bought me the biggest, prettiest doll I had ever seen! Suddenly I felt complete!

Then many years later I met "the guy" and endured years of agony (note: slight bit of exaggeration) while God took his time communicating to my parents that this was indeed "the right guy". The day finally came when I walked down the aisle and we said our vows and...I was complete! After only a few months I thought, "I can't even remember what life was like before this!"

A couple years after that, my life became more complete than ever before through the arrival of the sweetest little boy the world has ever seen (note: huge biased opinion). I'm so complete now, that I could never go back. I'm so changed and complete by this little life, that I no longer care about so many things I used to...at least not as much. For example, make-up. I confess that a couple years back I would not dare step foot out of my front door without make-up on my face. Now, there are many days that I'll realize, as we are on our way somewhere, that I haven't even looked in the mirror! And it's perfectly fine because I have a husband and son that adore who I am and love me for me.

Make-up is a pretty trivial thing to bring up in the context of Jesus' death and resurrection, I know. But when Jesus said, "It is finished", that meant his goal, his work, his dream for you and I was completed. His ultimate sacrifice and powerful resurrection provided for us the gift of wholeness of life in Him, the reality of a relationship with Him where nothing is lacking because He has it all and He gave it all for you and I. My desire is for this truth to invade my life in such a way that from make-up to relationships to character, I will be able to walk in the confidence of His completed work for me. There is no room for the lies of insecurity or selfishness when such a love has been given and received!