Wood

When our carpenter carved us He was humming a song,

When He ran his hands over the fibers that would make us He saw the complexity and intricacy of us. 

We are not straightforward Wood.

We are singers, writers, artists, actors, dancers, florists, gardeners, healers, food providers, creators.

In us He sees a reflection of His deepest, most passionate self. 

Today we commit into the care of our Creator one of our own. 

We already know that Teddy's Heavenly work has begun.

We see this in the meteors and rainbows that blaze across the sky everytime we think of him. 

We see it in the eyes of strangers when we share his story and somehow they find comfort in their own grief because of him.

As I drove in my car at 10.00 this morning  wishing that I could be in Cape Town with Quanta and Nick this is the image God gave me. 

We are Woods. And we are disparate and our lives have all turned out very differently. We have lost our own, sometimes early, too early for our human minds to comprehend. And yet in this loss some of the most powerful statements of faith have been borne.

We are Woods and our matriarchs and patriarchs have fought hard to release us from generational bonds of godlessness and darkness. In our mothers we find the music of Heaven and in our aunt Martine we find a testament of relentless faith. And in Grant's art, when the stillness of his brush hits paper, we see small parts of Heaven in paint.

We are Woods and every single one of us carries with us the sixth sense of our ancestors. A deeply powerful gift and one which must be used to the glory of God. We see things, feel things, experience things that others cannot. In this is power and responsibility and the deepest intuition God can give us - the ability to see the unseen, to see Him.

We are Woods and in us you will find music, and laughter, and humour, and food. We were made to bring joy to this world. We were made to dance and sing and document the stories of our people. We write books, we plant the earth, we teach, we heal, we paint, we find God in creative spaces - even if we don't realise that that is who we are looking for. 

God wants you to know today that He made you perfectly. The gnarled bits of his sculpture of you, the holes, the bumps , the flaws are what make you a perfect reflection of Him. Because in our imprefection He can reveal His artistry. 

And in our spouses and partners He has chosen men and woman who marvel at God in us. He has chosen co- creators who will sing, write, heal, walk with us. And sometimes we need to remember this. Marriage comes from God and we must find Him in our marriages. 

My precious family I want you to know that you have the spirit of David upon you. You are covered in the music of creation and you are worthy. You belong, to us, and to God. Wherever this message finds you today I want you to know that you have a destiny far greater than you own imaginings. If our tiny Teddy has already started reshaping the world with his story please believe your voice is as powerful. 

When our Carpenter carved you He was humming a song.

My prayer is that this song will return to you if you have forgotten it, it is yours to sing to the world.