Kathy made this for you!

I made this pretty cross necklace out of polymer clay for my Sunday School teacher at church.

It's hand sculpted, no molds...

...with a meaningful verse on the back.

As always, there's rich symbolism here because I love putting something tangible to those things in Christianity that are so intangible.  No statues for us, no idols, no little things that we believe have any actual power in and of themselves--just little pieces that represent something far greater and trigger a remembrance of that which can't be contained.  Kiss of Heaven.  Breath of God.  A touch of super in the natural.

A key for authority.  A pearl for the kingdom of God.  A cross, obviously.  Red words because Jesus said them, and their power is in His finished work on the cross.  A heart clasp because every time the necklace gets clasped, it's symbolic that all of this stuff is already in our hearts.  It is finished.  Everything we could ever need or want wrapped up in one great sacrifice that took care of all of it.

Beauty, glory, love, and light.  I adore it.  I live it.  I breathe it.  There could never be enough skill to render everything that all of this means to me, but that's where grace comes in.  He causes me to hit the mark. 

You know, it's like a little child "helping" his mother bake cookies.  Any mother who has ever baked cookies knows just how much "help" a small child is in such a task, and how it's so much clumsier, and takes so much longer, and how they really don't do very much of anything.  The mom is the one who does all of the real work.  The child is the one who gets the credit in the end, cookies on the plate, beaming from ear to ear, saying, "I made these!"  And the mom nods and says, "Yes, you did!"

That's how I feel about all of this.  When the cookies get served, what does He say?  "Here, Kathy made this for you!"  It humbles me and blows my mind every single time.  It was totally not me.  It was so Him.  It's always been so Him.