Agostino d'Antonio, a sculptor of Florence, wrought diligently but unsuccessfully on a large piece of marble. "I can do nothing with it," he finally said. Other sculptors tried their hand at it, but they too gave up the task. The stone lay on a rubbish heap for forty years.
Out strolling one day, Michelangelo saw the stone and its latent possibilities and ordered it brought to his studio. He began to work upon it, and ultimately his vision and work were crowned with success. From that seemingly worthless stone he carved one of the world's masterpieces of sculpture-David!
The secret lay in Michelangelo, not in the stone. Look at life-your own with all its disappointments, and the lives of others with all that God has accomplished in them or all that He is able to accomplish. Expect Him to produce a masterpiece because you know the quality of the work of the Master Builder, Christ.
Deu 30:19 I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. 20 And love GOD, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. Oh yes, he is life itself, a long life settled on the soil that GOD, your God, promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Everything in life, from the minute I get up from bed, to the time I fall asleep, depends on choice. I choose what to wear ( sometimes not with the best dress sense ), I choose what I eat, how I will conduct myself during the day, everything I am and do, depends on the choices I make.
The thing about choice is this: every choice I make does and will have a consequence!
Therefore, the moment I choose, the minute I make the decision, I also accept the consequence. If I choose to speed down the hi-way and I end up getting caught for speeding, I have no right to complain about the fine. It was the consequence of my decision to speed.
God has given me the choice on how I will live my life.
Yes, sometimes, bad things happen to good people, people who decide to live right in the eyes of God. But someone chose to commit an act of violence, some hooligan decides to act out against me. The choice of my reaction is mine.
The life of a Christian can be described in one of four ways: as a journey, as a battle, as a pilgrimage, and as a race. Select your own metaphor, but the necessity to finish is always the same. For if life is a journey, it must be completed. If life is a battle, it must be finished. If life is a pilgrimage, it must be concluded. And if it is a race, it must be won.
Therefore, in a sense, I can choose to spend my life, on a `rubbish heap` as an unfinished work, or, I can choose to submit my life, into the hands of the `master artist` and allow Him, to chip away everything and anything, that does not conform to His image.
Allow Him to create the `masterpiece` He had in mind in the first place.
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