Devotionals for the Heart: Fine China

Like Fine China
A devotional by Glynis Becker

“But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

–2 Corinthians 3:18 (NASB)

A few years ago I inherited my grandmother’s set of china dishes.

They are white dishes with simple, white flowers and a silver trim. I love that they are just what I would have picked out myself if I had a chance to choose. I also love that when you look at them through my china cabinet’s glass doors or even set them out on a table, you would think they are all identical. On closer inspection, though, you would see that there are plates, cups, and bowls from two different manufacturers. One set is an upscale brand well-known for their fine dishes, and one of them is a department store brand. While they are both beautiful and have the same color scheme and trim, the two patterns are different yet still complement each other perfectly.

God has created each of us with a human body—a shell with characteristics like hair and eye and skin color, along with a combination of personality traits unique to us. We live in different countries, come from different backgrounds, and speak different languages. When we become believers, our physical characteristics do not necessarily change, but we definitely should become different on the inside. At the point of surrender to the faith, we each willingly choose a new way of living, a new way of interacting with others, and a new way of seeing the world. We must begin to allow ourselves to be transformed to the image of Christ—a work that will continue in us until the day we go to Heaven.

Should we all look alike? The answer is probably yes and no. We will never all be the same in language, worship style, skin color, or even doctrinal beliefs and theologies. However, if we are all becoming more like Christ then we should start to resemble each other more and more in other ways, such as our response to the darkness and chaos of the world and the peace we have during trials.

Our differences are beautiful. They are given to us by God and should be used to strengthen us in our purpose and mission in the world.

All my dishes—the inexpensive ones, the expensive ones, the broken ones, the ones with a trim that is a little worn, the ones with chips in them, the shiny ones and the scratched ones can all still serve up a delicious meal. God has a feast of grace, love, mercy, justice, peace, and kindness ready for us to serve to a very hungry world. So today, let’s gather the Body of Christ together, and set a beautiful table. His banquet is ready. Are you?

Let’s Pray: Gracious God, help me see myself and others as you see us—beautiful members of Christ’s Body, available for You to work through us and with us. Give me a heart for unity with believers. Give me a heart of compassion for the world. Help me find ways to use my unique talents and personality for You and Your glory alone. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

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Author Bio:

Glynis Becker writes devotions and inspirational fiction, hoping someday to have a published novel on her resume.

She has co-written several screenplays, including the film Sinking Sand, available on DVD and digital streaming.

Glynis, whose childhood was spent all over the country as an Air Force brat, has called South Dakota home for many years, along with her husband and two college-age children.

When she’s not writing or reading, she is watching more television than she should and crocheting.

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Connect with Glynis:
Website: www.glynisbecker.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beckerglynis/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GlynisBecker7

Devotionals for the Heart: Women of God and Mother's Day

Beyond ‘Mom’: Celebrating Women of God
A devotional by Jessica Brodie

This Sunday (May 13) is Mother’s Day, a day that used to have one meaning for me: an opportunity to make my mom feel loved and cherished in gratitude for enduring a twelve-hour labor with no pain medication and then raising me, a precocious, bookish girl, to maturity.

But like so many things over the years, this day has evolved. Today, not only do I celebrate my own mother, but also my equally outstanding mother-in-law, my sister and sister-in-law, my stepmother, my aunt, and my grandmothers (here on earth and in heaven). And, of course, my husband and four kiddos—two biological, two “bonus” courtesy of our blended family—celebrate me, too, which always seems entirely unnecessary but very, very sweet to experience as they gather homemade cards and crafts in my honor.

And yet I can’t stop there, for I also celebrate the other women in our world… my children’s stepmom and my stepchildren’s mom, both loving, strong people who adore those kids and help shape them into the great people they are becoming. I also embrace and appreciate all the other women who influence my kids right along with me. I might carry the title “mom,” but we all work together in this: their brilliant and compassionate teachers, their ministry leaders at our church, the moms in our small group Bible study who pray for our flock daily, my other mom-friends in our neighborhood who take turns with me in caring and loving on all our kids for playdates, carpooling, and sleepovers.

They say it takes a village; I say they’re right.

While I’m blessed to have a wonderful biological mother who is a Christian, many of my friends have mothers who have already passed on—and others have it far worse: Their mothers are not women of faith. Some are addicts, driven by a demon and looking to fill the proverbial hole with anything but God. Some, whether from fear or circumstance, have left their children behind. Some are in prison. Some they haven’t talked to in years.

Sadly, I also have friends who are adoptive and foster moms but not fully comfortable with their role; they feel like “false moms” (they most certainly are not!). Others struggle with infertility, like I once did, or have decided for a variety of reasons that birthing children is not something they intend to do, yet the holiday still haunts them.

Where I live, there’s a place, Epworth Children’s Home, that has chosen not to celebrate “Mother’s Day” at all but rather “Women’s Day.” Their director said Mother’s Day at Epworth does not bring smiles and pleasant memories but is often a reminder of broken promises and shattered dreams. So instead, they focus on what it means to be a woman in the eyes of God.

Here’s the thing: “Mother” is not an identity. And while it’s a lovely thing to take a day to celebrate the woman who birthed us or the women who helped shape us, in reality, our children are not “ours” but God’s—and we are not “mothers” first but rather “children of God.”

In fact, as a Christian, if I’m truly honoring my Savior, I’d do well to keep that open-ended concept of family in mind.

In Matthew 12, Jesus was teaching God’s word to a large crowd when someone told Him that His mother and brothers were standing outside, wanting to speak to Him.

“(Jesus) replied to him, ‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?’ Pointing to his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother’” (Matthew 12:48-50, NIV).

Family isn’t mere biology or bloodlines. When we toss aside the mantle of the world and instead choose to follow Christ, we not only gain a new life, but also a new family. We are no longer daughters and sons of flesh and blood but children of the Risen God. Our parent is God, and our siblings are all who walk alongside us in faith.

Happy Mother’s Day, then, and Happy Women’s Day…to God, to my mom, and to women of faith everywhere.

~*~
Author Bio: 

Jessica Brodie is a Christian author, journalist, editor, blogger, and writing coach. 

She is the editor of the South Carolina United Methodist Advocate (AdvocateSC.org), the oldest continuously published newspaper in Methodism. 

Learn more about her fiction and read her blog at http://jessicabrodie.com/.