make a masterpiece.

I’ve been nannying a 10-month-old for a few weeks now. She still mostly drinks milk, but she’s been learning how to eat solid foods too.

On my first day, I hung out with her and her dad as I got to know her and her routines. When it was time for her to eat, her dad gave her watermelon and cantaloupe. I watched as she ate some and also as she smashed some with her hand, spreading fruit and juices around her tray.

“Are you making a masterpiece?” her dad asked.

Immediately, I noticed his word choice. I thought “mess,” but he said “masterpiece.” It struck me because both are technically true, but one of them communicates love and creative support while the other one does not. And I know which one I’d rather hear.

Weeks later, it’s just me and her, and I watch her do the same thing every day. She pushes bits of food around her tray. She squishes it in her fist. She drops it on the floor. Sometimes she does this while looking straight at me, like she’s looking for a response.

Internally, I am thinking, “Can you not?” But I say something positive instead.

I know she is learning, and the process is messy. And yet, there is something in me that wants it to be cleaner.

It’s true in my own life too. I am not learning to eat, but I am doing things I’ve never done before. I’m learning to navigate new things. And I wish it were cleaner, faster, smoother. Often, I think, “This feels so messy.” I don’t like it.

But a couple days ago, as I stood in the kitchen and watched a 10-month-old drop a fist full of food on the floor and thought about the mess I’d be cleaning up after, I felt a nudge from Holy Spirit.

“Only you call it a mess,” He said. “I am making it a masterpiece.”

Oh.

I thought about her dad picking up food off the floor, wiping her hands and face. He didn’t just call what she was doing a masterpiece — he was so delighted by her, delighted to clean up after her, delighted to see what she did next.

Gosh. God doesn’t look at me, or you, and think, “Could you not?” He looks at us and thinks, “What a masterpiece.” He is so delighted by us.

I love being a nanny, and hanging out with kids in general, because it reminds me of the simplest truths that I so easily forget as a grown-up. I’m so hesitant about getting something wrong or messing something up — but sometimes that’s just the process.

It’s okay if things are messy. It’s okay if you aren’t quite sure what to do with your hands. It’s okay if you drop things. It’s okay if you try something and you don’t like it.

You’re learning. It’s not a mess. It’s a masterpiece.

The power of God is in you, even on a Thursday.