turning: water into wine, prose into poetry

The Word for today:
2 Chronicles 6:12-42

Today we read Solomon's great prayer at the dedication of the temple.

The word dedicate is used in both secular and sacred contexts. It means that something is set apart for a certain use. We might, for example, dedicate a certain amount of money every month to our vacation fund.

The word also means to commit to a goal or a way of life. Someone might dedicate his life to public service.

But my very favorite use of the word is the one we hear the least. It's when an author dedicates a book to a friend, or to a mentor, or to his wife, or to some other person who has inspired his creative efforts.

I always look for dedications in the opening few pages of the books I'm about to read. If I find one I linger over it. I imagine all the reasons why the author singled out that certain someone. Dedications always make me happy.

Not many of us are authors, but each of us lives out a story. So before you put the last period at the end of the last sentence of the story of your life, don't neglect to write your dedication.

I'm working on mine. It will echo the story of Jonathan and David, and will sound something like this:

~~To Jesus, the author of my salvation~~

For the longest time you didn't even appear in my story. So who was to know that, stepping out of the pages of your own story, you would become the hero of mine. Who could have predicted the surprise ending, when -- like Jonathan of old -- I would step aside for the rightful king.

Mine was just another obscure story until you became its protagonist, turning it into a chapter of the greatest story ever told.

Everyone knows you turned water into wine. But I was the only one there when you turned this prosaic life into poetry.

~~~~~~~