God knows what life holds in store for us

In one theology class, I offer students the opportunity to do some sort of creative or artistic project, also providing their own artist’s description of the work.  Mikayla Hodkiewicz offered the vivid testimony of faith posted here.  As we come to the end of a year, reflecting on what has happened and wondering about what lies ahead, we have confidence that God is overseeing all things for us.

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Pieces of our Lives
by Mikayla Hodkiewicz

Our lives are a puzzle to us.  The whole puzzle is our life. The individual puzzle pieces are pieces of our lives.  As depicted in the illustration, the portions that have pictures and words on them are the parts of our lives that we know already.  The plain, light blue spaces are covered at the moment from our eyes, known only to God, until the proper time comes for us to know those things.  It is easy to become too focused on what our future might hold. We need not worry. God has everything under his control, even when it may not feel that way to us.

We walk forward in our lives by faith and not by sight. We trust God to reveal to us everything we need to know, when we need to know it.  We pray to God, asking for his guidance about our future. But also, we need patience to wait for his answers.  And most of all, we strive always to keep the center of our attention on Jesus.

The top left picture is a field full of flowers, by a river. This is a scene that makes me feel calm and peaceful, and I am reminded that I need not worry.  “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these” (Luke 12:27).

The top right picture shows mountains. The word faith is painted there, because we hope for a strong faith, even one that could move mountains.  As Jesus said to us, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20). 

The bottom left puzzle piece shows a mother duck leading her little ducklings. The ducklings trust completely that their mother knows what she is doing and where she is leading them.  We walk in God’s path, trusting him to lead us – and trusting his promise:  “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge” (Psalm 91:4).

At bottom right is a very close-up image of a flower.  Too often, too easily, we get ourselves so focused on one thing that we lose sight of the true picture. Therefore, we ask God’s Spirit to keep our eyes, hearts and minds focused on Jesus. Patience is also on this piece because when we get so focused on the wrong thing, it is easy to get frustrated. We pray for patience and listen to God calling us back to him.

Jesus is at the very center of my painting because he is the very center or our lives, the heart of everything we do.  When we lose sight of this, our faith begins to falter.  Our trust fails, and we forget to pray, and we are no longer patient. This is when our lives fall out of balance.  But Jesus remains solidly at the center for us always, and calls us to refocus on him.  “Let us throw off everything that hinders … and run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2).