Kaleidoscope

I remember camping at the beach or in the mountains as a child during summer vacations, and being allowed to choose a souvenir from each family trip. Mad Libs, a yo-yo, wax bottle candies, a tomahawk, arrowheads, sand dollars or the hermit crab that lasted about the first hour of the trip home seemed like priceless treasures to a child. My favorite by far was a kaleidoscope.

A kaleidoscope is a hollow tube with a few tilted mirrors and loose plastic pieces inside, but when you hold it up to the light and look through it, rotating it slowly in your hands, the most beautifully colored mosaics appear one after another. The name comes from the Greek, meaning beautiful to see. Imagine a church with constantly shifting stained glass windows, no two patterns the same. The pastor and the choir might have trouble competing!

“God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of 3 of them.” (John Piper, Desiring God)

God shapes our loose pieces into something beautiful every single minute of every day as we hold what we can see up to the light of His Word. What you and I see is only a fragment of the whole that’s always visible to God. What looks confusing or like a big mess to you and me is “beautiful to see” in His eyes! We can trust Him with every detail.

Jesus said, “My Father is always working and so am I.” (John 5:17)

Trusting completely in God’s Sovereignty means seeing every situation, every experience with trust; not reacting badly when things don’t go as I’ve planned because it’s His plan I prefer. Allowing Him to shift the pieces or shake things up a bit might be disconcerting at first, but I can learn to respond with thanksgiving because He sees what I cannot. The One who created me in His image knows every detail of my life.

“…all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

Psalms 139:16 NIV

https://www.bible.com/111/psa.139.16.niv

So, “as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds, of your saving acts all day long— though I know not how to relate them all. I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign Lord; I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone. Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.”

Psalms 71:14-18 NIV

https://www.bible.com/111/psa.71.14-18.niv