Bananagram!

I love the game Bananagrams.  It's basically Scrabble on steroids.  I love that I get to work on my own little puzzle, and though I am racing against others, much of it for me is challenging myself to make words and to use up my tiles, period! My husband won't play with me any more.  He's not wild about word games to begin with, but with this particular game, he just doesn't ever win.  Ever.  Nope. Nada.  It's the game where I truly reign Queen.  Here's the game basics: there are a lot of tiles, each with their own letter.  Each player draws a set number of tiles according to the number of people who are  playing.  Then someone yells "Split!" and the frenzy begins.  Each player is using his group of tiles to create his own personal crossword puzzle, intersecting the letters, etc.  When a player has used all of her tiles, she yells "peel" and everyone draws an additional tile.  This process keeps repeating until all letter tiles have been drawn.  Once all tiles are in play, the first person to use all his tiles in his personal crossword wins!  At any time during play, you can rearrange your letters and create a totally new word, or even crossword puzzle! Just  because you used tiles to create a particular word at  one point in the game,  doesn't mean those tiles have to be played in such a way for the entirety of the game.  The goal is just use up all your tiles, creating real words, in a crossword formation, first.

I read a verse recently that made me think of this game.  The beginning of the verse said, "We are his creation…"  I have been experiencing God reshaping me, reforming thought patterns and attitudes.  So when I read the words "We are His creation"  I reflected to the truth that God doesn't leave me the same.  He didn't create me and then just set me aside with a "Well, that's a good one!"  He created me with my personality, gifting, abilities and leanings, and He created me with a plan in mind.  And I am a sinful being. I've skewed what God intended.  I've misunderstood His directions; I've disobeyed His commands; I've demanded my own way;  I've sought to make myself god in place of God Himself.  And just like I move letters around so that I can better use all the letters I have in my bananagram, God moves things around in my life so that all I've been given can be used to the best advantage.  My bananagram puzzle rarely stays exactly the same, and thankfully God doesn't leave me be either. 

The verse that I recently read is a familiar verse: Ephesians 2:10  "For we are God's masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."  When I normally encounter this verse I'm captured by the idea that God is creating me to be a masterpiece that I lose some of the nuance of the process… like the reshaping, retooling, and restructuring.  I sadly admit that I have tended to view it  more like a beauty makeover, some new hair dye, a great haircut, better clothes and WOW! (That sounds so superficial, so temporary.  I'm liking the idea of being a bananagram more and more!)

When I recently read this verse it was part of a devotional and it was in a different translation than I normally read.  I'm familiar with the translation used, but this verse read as something I had never read before. "For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them." (Holman Christian Standard Bible).  When seen side by side with the "masterpiece" version, I see the similarity. Beyond seeing God reworking my life like a bananagram, I was struck by the phrase "so that we should walk in them."  My normal concept that there is a list of good works that I’m supposed to do, and I check them off as I go, didn't seem to fit as well.  God is rearranging, restructuring me so that I will live out a pattern of good works.  This pattern of good work habits fit me: who I am, how I'm gifted, the way I'm wired, what I enjoy.  My life's bananagram will look different than yours; there isn't a magical list of good works for every one to do that then qualifies one to be a masterpiece.  God wants me to walk in the behaviors that honor Him with the individual bananagram tiles that make up who I am.  God blessed my soul with the assurance that my patterns of good works honor Him: sending home-made cards; writing; supporting and encouraging my husband's pastoral ministry; participating with our church's worship team by playing my instrument; working with the teens; continuously seeking out ways to encourage, equip and empower; opening my home for a small group  … and more.

My soul needed what God provided.  I'm hard on myself.  I tend to compare myself to others, and when I think of the whole masterpiece idea, I perceive others to have more of a true masterpiece life.  God re-framed my concept of that precious verse.  He reminded my heart that He wants me to use all the different pieces He's given me.  I'm my own little puzzle being created.  My bananagram isn't to  be compared to another's puzzle, the words evaluated and ranked.  The goal is to complete the puzzle using all one has been given.  God has blessed me and shown me a new way to free myself from the comparison trap.  I AM God's masterpiece.  I just look more like a Bananagram than a Rembrandt. And I'm okay with that.