artistry

How does it fit? The brilliant beauty of God and the ugliness of sin? How can they both be and contrast so greatly? How can we not be aware of both? Why do some people seem to live in the loveliness and others get mired down by the mess? I yearn for peace and beauty in my life and God gave me children. Not prodigies but normal rowdy, I think more rowdy than normal, children. They are dirty and whiny and destructive and always tussling with each other like puppies or baby wild cats. I live in cacophony. My world is streaked with colors but they are not still. Instead, they're constantly moving. In them I see that conundrum, beauty and ugliness intermingled. Jesus loves the children. They are made in His image. They are better able to grasp Him than adults generally are. They take things at face value. Jesus also died for them. They are selfish and grasping, violent and vengeful. I cannot paint a picture, put it all together, know what goes where and create something meaningful for all who observe it. But I can recognize the process and submit to the Master. There is a time when children become more marked by deceit and manipulation, become more complex. Is this maturity? Master, please help now and then in them and me.