I've always been one of "those people". I can not help it. I have seriously tried not to care, but it's physically impossible. I love to make things beautiful. I love to look at beautiful things. I like the pretty.
I will spend hours shifting and adjusting furniture, knick knacks and all things decor to achieve that just right look. The look that doesn't look like you tried. The kind that immediately relaxes you and makes you feel at home. You know what I'm talking about?? It makes me serenely happy.
You'll have to ask my mother, but I'm pretty sure I've been affected by "make it pretty" my entire life!
This is why this set of verses is so encouraging to me and speaks to my soul. God likes the pretty too! He actually gifted and created people to make the pretty! I hope you others who are so affected like me receive some encouragement from this.
In the book of Exodus, God lays out a very specific design for the Tabernacle. This sacred place was to be the way God could dwell with man. Exodus spends many chapters detailing the minute intricacies of how it was to be constructed. You'll have to read about it to get the full impact, but it was beyond beautiful! For example, the furnishings inside the Tabernacle were completely covered in gold that was hammered out in elaborate details! God tells Moses several times to make it just like the pattern I showed you on the mountain. At your first read, you might think, Good grief! How can anyone achieve something so complicated? Especially WAY back in Bible times?? Then you come to these verses - that I love!
Then the LORD said to Moses, "See, I have chosen Bezalel..., and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts - to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut, and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship.
Exodus 31:1-4
Please don't think I am in anyway comparing my little house to the Tabernacle, or my skills to Bezalel's. Cuz, I'm not!
But, what I do love is that God wanted his house to be made beautiful. Knowing that God loves and desires beauty does something to my soul. It makes me feel like I belong. Like God "gets me". Which is silly to think; because he actually created me this way, but it puts me at peace. Peace is knowing what you are designed for and being able to worship God through the gift he gave.
Peace is knowing what you are designed for and being able to worship God through the gift he gave.
I have often wondered what Bezalel thought when the work was finished. What satisfaction he had. What pride. What joy. To know that God created him specifically and gave him great skill to make his house beautiful. What a thought to ponder! I can't wait to talk to him about it all.
Our God loves to make things pretty. Sometimes he gifts us to be able to make the pretty too.
So, if you are one of "those people" enjoy your gift! Recognize where it came from and offer it back to God. Who knows how'll he use you to bless someone else.
Here's some more pretty from my house to yours! MERRY CHRISTMAS!
