Have you ever thought about what goes into creating a masterpiece? A beautiful work of art takes focus, time and dedication.
Do you realize that you are a masterpiece? You are a work of art created by God. It encourages me to know that God was focused fully and completely on me and dedicated to the completion of creating me. Of course God does in a second what it would take us hours, days, weeks and months to complete.
I have a friend who is a portrait artist. It is fascinating to see how accurately his work portrays the person painted. It takes a long time for him to complete a portrait. It all begins with focus. Looking directly at who is to be transposed onto canvas. Somehow that image is taken from the mind to the hand and onto the canvas for others to see. Focus is a concentrated effort or attention on a single thing.
Creating a masterpiece also takes time. The amount of time depends on the person creating. Several years ago, I decided to try to paint. I had always wanted to learn but had never had the time to give it a try. One weekend when I was home alone I bought the materials, read some instructions and began to paint. Praise music was playing on my CD player filling my heart with peace, and I painted – all day Saturday and all day Sunday after church. I was focused, having fun and determined to complete the painting before my husband returned on Sunday night. To others, the painting may not be so wonderful, but to me, it was a masterpiece. It was a testimony to me of God’s promise and faithfulness to fulfill the desires of our hearts. I had not attempted to do this prior to that time, nor have I attempted it since that time. Perhaps it was a one time event that God intended for His purpose in the moment to prove what He could and would do through me as I focused, spent time and dedication on whatever He wants to do through me. It is a very humbling realization to know
that quite often, we are the ones holding back from God, not God holding back from us.
That brings us to the third thing required for the task, and that is dedication. From Webster’s Online Dictionary, dedication is “a devoting or setting aside for a particular purpose”. That is the part of the definition that applies to what I have been talking about. The unspoken word in that definition is time, setting aside time for a particular purpose. However, the first part of the definition shown in the dictionary is “an act or rite of dedicating to a divine being or to a sacred use”. Interesting. By playing and singing along with the praise music while I painted, I was not only dedicated to the work, but dedicating the work to God through my praise without realizing that is what I was doing. Creating a work of art takes dedication; to the work and the work to God.
If you apply the same principles to developing the women’s ministry in your church, you will have a beautiful result, a masterpiece of women who serve the Lord in their homes, work and church, and who grow spiritually.
- Focus on the mission of growing women in faith and service, and focus on women as individuals with needs and desires. Plan accordingly.
- Spend the time needed on each individual task for completion of the goal of that one task. You can’t reach the finish line by trying to do everything at once.
- Dedicate your work to the Lord and be dedicated to the completion of the work He gives you to do. Your ministry will be a beautiful sight in the eyes of the Lord as you focus, spend time and dedicate the mission to Him.
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10 NIV
