So a few weeks ago, I got an email from my rocket scientist of a daughter, the one who just got engaged. (Whoop! Whoop!) To those who caught the reference in last week’s blog and then called or emailed to say, “Why didn’t you tell me?”, I’m so sorry. I thought I was the only person who stunk at social media; I figured if I knew the big news, everyone did.
Look. I’ll make it up to you. Here’s the photo Hillary’s beloved posted to announce the news:
(I know that’s not the world’s best shot of Charlie, but trust me: He’s adorable.)
Anyhow, Hillary has never been the most tidy or organized person, and she was writing to crow about new scientific evidence to indicate that the most creative people actually flourish amid clutter.
I read the article and then, curious, I asked Hillary to send me a snap of her desk at NASA:
Eeek.
So what’s with the hubcap on the left? I wanted to know.
“That’s not a hubcap,” she told me. “It’s part of a heat shield.” (Of course. I knew that.)
And, um, the tiara?
“My thinking cap.”
I was afraid to ask about the screwdriver. I mean, if NASA is letting kids who are just two years out of engineering school tighten their nuts and bolts, do we really want to know about it?
I couldn’t live like that. Heck, I couldn’t last five minutes with that desk. But Hillary is thriving, and as I studied the photo (longing, I will confess, to get in there with a Hefty Cinch Sak, even if it meant setting the whole “Let’s go to Mars” thing back by a few thousand light years), I was reminded of Psalm 139. God knows how each one of us is made – messy or clean, wavy or straight, relaxed or uptight – and, in his eyes, we are all wonderful!
So here’s the thing: If you look at your desk, your house, or your life today and you feel like you just can’t get it together, don’t despair. God loves you, just the way you are.
Likewise, if you look at your children and you feel like they can’t get it together (not that I know anyone who would worry about their kids’ domestic standards or anything), don’t worry about that, either. God loves them just the way they are.
Instead of fretting, take a deep breath. Take a gander at Psalm 139, and let these words permeate your soul:
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
I praise you because my kids/my spouse/my mother/my friend is fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (Psalm 139:14)
Isn’t that, I don’t know…refreshing?
(And P.S.: Even without the hubcap and the tiara, I know that God made Hillary fearfully and wonderfully creative, and I am grateful. I’m just hoping, as they celebrate Week Two of their blessed engagement, that he made Charlie fearfully and wonderfully good with a vacuum cleaner.)
