The Right Maker

“Come let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the LORD our maker.” Psalm 95:6

For 17 years, my girls and I have been immersed in the world of ballet. Tutus, tights, leotards, classes and recitals have filled our lives with joys, growth, grace and lots and lots of shoes—those beautiful satin pointe shoes. It takes a lot of skill to be able to go on “pointe” and the process to find the correct shoe can be a long and tedious task.

European pointe shoes are hand-made from leather soles, densely packed layers of fabric, cardboard and/or paper, and are hardened by glue. There are several manufacturers of the slippers and each of them has master craftsmen. Every craftsman has his own maker number and this number is stamped on the sole of each pair of shoes he makes. (We didn’t have this information when we bought the first pair of shoes.)

My daughter made an appointment for her first fitting and the shoes fit like a glove and could be worn with little pain. Oh boy, we thought, now we will be able to order the next pair with ease. The next pair came four months later, same size, same box, same vamp, but they were narrower than the first pair and caused great pain when worn. What was the difference? The maker number on these shoes was different than the first pair. We needed shoes made by the “master maker” for my daughter.

The parallel for our lives is that we need the “Master Maker” of our souls to be LORD of our lives so that we can “dance without great pain.” Only He knows how to make our “shoes” correctly. If we “dance” with another maker’s shoes, we will only hurt ourselves. We could have “blisters” that cause pain; “bunions” that cause crooked feet; or “terrible falls” that can cause the inability to dance at all.

We have a choice to make in this life. We can be lord of our life and have much eternal pain, or we can have the “Master Maker” LORD of our life and have an eternal “dance” with Him. I hope you choose to dance with the Master, Jesus.

Dear Jesus, we come before you in worship. We kneel and bow down before You as Master Maker of our lives. Teach us Your ways that we may “dance” with you eternally. Amen.