Taking Shape

Our lives form a particular structure and pattern, unique to us and according to the season of life we are living.

 For example; when I was a single woman, I arranged my life around, going to college classes, reading textbooks, and writing essays. My life took on the shape of a young female college student. If you’d seen me walking fast down the street on a college campus, carrying an arm load  of books, you would have most likely guessed that I was a student. And, you would have been right.

Later and while still in college, I fell in love and my life took on the shape of a young woman in love. Though school still filled my days and studying and reading textbooks filled my nights, I also included time for the man I loved. We met for lunch on a park bench, dinner on a Saturday night or a walk on a Sunday afternoon. 

If you’d seen me with him you would have noticed our physical closeness; walking arm in arm, sitting hip to hip or exchanging a kiss, lips to lips. Perhaps you would have guessed that we were in love. And you would have been right.

Then with marriage, and a family, my life once again took on another format. Now if you saw me walking down the street with a little one strapped to my front  in a baby snuggle, and two little ones walking alongside, you’d guess that I was a young mom. 

                         What Shape Does God’s Love Take?

If our lives form a particular structure and pattern according to what age and stage we are living, then what does someone’s life look like when they are allowing God’s love to shape it during those different ages and stages?

If we were to go back to those above mentioned scenarios and if you had known how much I’d had to rely on God to help me overcome my fear of enrolling in college, in trusting the affections of a man or grow in my confidence as a mom, then you would have known just how much my life had been shaped by God’s love.

Receiving and believing God’s compassion, kindness, good intentions, personal attention, and mild benevolence configures our lives in a way that may or may not be seen by others, but undoubtedly experienced by us. 

Receiving and believing God’s love gave me the courage and confidence to enroll in college even though I’d almost dropped out of high school. 

Receiving and believing God’s love I possessed the necessary peace to trust in the affections of a man even though I had the memory of a father who’d abandoned me. 

Receiving and believing God’s love enabled me to trust God to show me how to be the mom I wanted to be, kind, tender and wise, because I was clueless.

Why Bother? 

When we bother to let God’s love shape our lives, then our lives take on the shape of living confidently, courageously, peacefully, and trustfully. No matter the season, no matter our age, God is ready to shape our lives with his love.