Until We're Set Free by Brenda Leyland

"In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it." ~ Michelangelo

Someone once asked the great artist/sculptor how he knew what to carve away from the block of stone he was working on. Michelangelo replied, "I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."

I marvel to think that those of us who allow the hand of God to carve away what doesn't belong in our lives will eventually find that we, too, have been set free. Free to be our true selves -- sons and daughters sculpted into the beautiful image and likeness of Jesus.

It's interesting to consider that Michelangelo became a physical expression of what God the Great Sculptor is doing in each of our lives. Just as Michelangelo saw the statue before he ever started to carve, God sees us, already shaped and perfect in attitude and action. Everything He does is the careful 'hewing away' of all that still imprisons us in marble darkness.

To me, that is a most hopeful thought. He whom the Son sets free is free indeed!