March 29, 2009

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:14

When I was growing up, there was only one Monopoly game. Now it seems there’s a slew of them tailored to just about every interest you can think of: sports teams, dog and cat lovers, cartoon characters and Harley editions are only some of the versions from which to choose.

I’ve seen the Monopoly featuring the national parks in every park gift shop I’ve ever visited, but recently I discovered another twist on the product. The “My National Parks Edition” allows you to customize the board with removable stickers of 105 of the most popular sites in the National Park System. Boardwalk could be the Grand Canyon one day, Yosemite the next. With over a million possible combinations, you can play a different game every time. Cool!

This Monopoly set reminded me all over again that I too am a custom creation—and so are you. Each of us is God’s “My (insert name) Edition.” Out of all the infinite combinations of hair, eye and skin color, personality types and body shapes, we’re all put together just the way God planned. And, as the psalmist David noted, we’re terrific.

What? You say you don’t feel so terrific? You don’t happen to like your (insert nagging health issue, troublesome personality trait, annoying skin problem, etc.). I hear you: I struggle with impatience and perfectionism, I think I inherited the hearing loss gene, and my hair is thinning at an alarming rate.

I like what Ann Spangler writes in Praying the Names of God, when she discusses Elohim, the Hebrew word for God the Creator that appears in the very first sentence of the Bible:

So often we miss life’s beauty because we are preoccupied by its
flaws…Who stares back from the mirror each morning? A child of God
who is growing daily in his image or someone whose nose is too
big or too small, whose hair is in a state of perpetual rebellion, or
whose skin is aged and worn? (p. 20)

For some reason—I guess because I really relate to ‘60s music—as I wrote this, I thought of the opening line of “Give Him a Great Big Kiss” by the Shangri-Las: “When I say I’m in love, you best believe I’m in love!” If we trust in God and accept what He says in the Bible, then when He says all that He’s made is very good (Genesis 1:31), then we best believe it. And—here’s where the rubber really meets the road—we also best believe so is (insert name/description of store clerk, neighbor, fellow believer, family member, driver in the next lane, etc.) who gets on our last nerve.

Buying Boardwalk: $400
Bankrupting your opponents in Monopoly: varies
Reveling in God’s creation, you included: priceless