A labour of love

Today I was helping to move some furniture, (some of which will eventually be mine, yay!) from a house down the road to ours.  As we were shifting pieces into our porch, the owners of the other house commented that our house was a real 'labour of love'.  When my parents first acquired our old Victorian place, it was in a sorry state.  There was dry rot everywhere, and bits had to be rebuilt and given a bit of loving care and attention before they were back to their former glory or completely refurbished.

Naturally that got me thinking about the things I have put a 'labour of love' into.  Since I started this blog, I have come to realise just how much I enjoy writing, and the satisfaction I gain from it, so in a sense this has become a labour of love.  Likewise, when I do a painting, or play an instrument, it is a labour of love; I put my heart and soul into it.

As I think about these things, I can't help but think we are a real labour of love too.  If we gain so much satisfaction from our creativity, how much more satisfaction and enjoyment must God have got out of creating us?  We are so beautifully well engineered and put together.  As psalm 139 puts it:

"For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me

were written in your book

before one of them came to be."

(v13-16)

I don't know about you, but I love those few verses.  One can hardly imagine the labour of love that went into creating us and the planet we live on.  And how much satisfaction must He get from watching His creations create?  I can only imagine.

Not only that, but the labour of love that goes into restoring us, when we have become infested with 'dry rot'.  When we become blind and deaf to God's infinite love.  He cares so much that He has provided a way for us to be restored from our sorry state.  Made new.  Cleaned up, given a fresh lick of paint (well, maybe not, but you get the picture) and lovingly restored to something more like what we were always meant to be.  That's a pretty awesome thought.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17)

God offers to lovingly restore us to our former state of close friendship with Him if only we will let him.  He has so much more in store for us!

If you wish to go into more depth on Christianity and God's labour of love, then here is probably a good place to start.

What do you put a labour of love into?