I was a pretty aimless college student. I considered lot's of different degrees. For about week I considered landscape architecture. I only went to one class. About halfway through the first class they were talking a lot about sketching. I am terrible at drawing. I had one shining artistic moment in Mrs. Vanda's 1st grade class. Kids were coming from all over the room to ask for my advice on drawing elephants. My art career began and ended in that moment.
By the time I reached college I had no pretensions regarding my art ability. I raised my hand knowing that my question would probably cause all the upper class-men surrounding me to look at me like I was stupid but ... whatever. When my suspicions regarding their reaction and the necessity of an ability to sketch were confirmed I immediately dropped the class. I replaced it with tractor driving. Seriously.
My mom has recently taken up water color painting. This afternoon she showed me a sketch she'd been laboring over for about a week. Her sketching and painting has improved significantly over the past few months. But it struck me as I looked at her pencil drawing ... what takes even the most accomplished artist time and labor only takes God a breath to create. We spend ourselves in creating what amounts at its best to be only a poor reflection of the reality that God seems to create as easily as breathing.
Quite literally. Every sunset, flower, beautiful face, and star strewn sky are the result of his life giving breath. Our art is good. When we create to His Glory we are doing precisely what he designed us to do. But I think I'm going to approach those delicate little flowers with a greater sense of humility from now on. They are not only evidence of God's own beauty but of our finitude. I'm OK with that. I belong to Him. Look at what my Father can do!
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