Sunday Devotion- Long, long ago...

Janet Rubin

I'm immersed in one of the most fun school projects ever right now. For our final paper in my Personality Theory Psychology class, we get our free pick of any fictional character (we can pick from any book or film), whom we must analyze using theories we have learned about in class. Being a big Harry Potter fan, I decided to do a psychoanalysis of Harry. My research has been a blast, and last night I stumbled onto a great interview with author J.K. Rowling. In thinking about what to write my devotional about, something she said came back to me:

"Way before I finished [The Sorcerer's] Stone, when I was just amassing stuff for seven years, between having the idea and publishing the book, I sat down and I created 40 kids who enter Harry's year. I'm delighted I did it, [because] it was so useful. I got 40 pretty fleshed-out characters. I never have to stop and invent someone."
-J.K. Rowling, from the interview conducted by Emerson Spartz and Melissa Anelli

My first thought was simply, "Gee, that's smart. I ought to try getting to know my characters a bit before I start trying to write their stories." My second thought was, "Hey, that's what God did!"

Ephesians 1:4-5 "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—"

I've read these verses before, and deep inside always had trouble believing that God actually thought about me thousands of years ago, before He even breathed life into Adam. It just seems so...incredible. Okay, it doesn't just seem incredible. It is! But reading Rowling's quote, of all things, made it seem reasonable to me. A writer, who is a being created in the image of God (which is why he or she is creative and writing in the first place), begins with thoughts and plans for a story. More importantly, thoughts of characters. It's hard after all to have a story with no one in it. And so did God. He wasn't just making a world. The world was simply a setting. The story was to be about people. And before He started speaking things into existence, He thought of me. He thought of you. Wow. Pretty cool, isn't it?

Lord, Thank you for thinking of me...long ago and ever since. And for choosing me. You are amazing. Amen.