A work of art

This new year is a blank canvas.  As I think about the year ahead I'm thinking about what picture I want to paint with this year...what I hope others will see as I paint each stroke, as I live each day.

What do I want to do with these days ahead?  What will the year look like when I'm done with it?  

I won't get to erase my work, each stroke of the brush leaves paint on the canvas. Each decision, each word, each action is like a brush stroke full of paint....it changes the painting, it becomes part of the work.

I know I'm not a gifted artist, but I'm working on it, I'm trying, with each brush stroke, with each word, with each decision to create a work of art that pleases God.  I'm trying to take the canvas of this year and make it a work of art.

To be honest I still feel like a child finger painting.  My canvas, as I finish it each year, looks like a mess!  I have to explain what the painting I've created with my year is really all about.  My year, as I reflect on the work behind me, is sometimes hard to figure out, confusing, child's play at best, but I'm trying to do better.

What will my canvas look like at the end of 2013?  Each day I will be making brush strokes on the canvas of this year.  Each word touches my canvas, each action leaves color behind.  What will others see when my canvas is finished?

My desire is this...that at the end of the year, when the canvas of 2013 is finished, others will see Jesus.