"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now." Matthew 6:34a
The Message
Last Thursday night I did something new. Soul Sister C talked me into taking an art class with her. This was a Big Deal. I was always told in grade school that I was pretty much a total loss when it came to artistic talent. of course they told me I couldn't write or sing either. I think it was an attempt to keep us humble. Unfortunately where it kept me was in a place of fear where I did not dare try these things until much later in my life. And to my surprise I found that I can write and I can sing...so I thought well, maybe they were wrong about the art thing too. And as SSC said, it's an Abstract art class, so I really could not do it wrong! So I let her convince me and off we went to the Arts Center. We were a diverse group....all the way from eight to about seventy, I'd say. And every single one of them -- including the eight year old -- clearly knew what they were doing. She even came with her own paints and brushes and told us she had been studying art for two years with her own teacher! Some people had taken classes before, one lady had exhibited some things. Yep, it was clear I was over my head. So as they happily got to work, industriously applying water to their papers and squeezing tubes of paint onto their palettes, I just sat there paralyzed by the whole idea that I had to put something on this paper and that it would not be the right thing. Then I thought about the conversation that my SD and I had last month...the one that got this whole God-watching business going, the one about reveling in discovering what God was doing in my life....and so I simply asked, "God, what is that you, no, that we are doing here?" And God said, "Well Kate, I think we are having fun....or at least that's the idea...." Oh. So I took a deep breath and I started to relax and to remember all the beauty I'd been really starting to see since I'd been watching for God. And I squirted some paint in my little palette, and I put some water on my paper....and I starting having fun and painting. And I saw that it was good. And I think maybe God did too.
6 comments:
Oh! Kate, I LOVE this! Absolutely love it!
One of these days I'm going to try my hand at painting, too. I've always wanted to, and the older I get the greater the desire. Wow.
I'm reading your posts with gladness.
play time again!! good for you!!
What fun and there is something about expressing yourself on paper in a different way that is freeing.
Good for you! I am, of course, jealous. I've been looking for an art class or guild or something like it to join, but alas, small-town-ville has nothing.
I'm really glad for you! I hope it opens up something in you and you find some joy in it.
I'm applauding you for facing down your inner critic and having fun.
You are a far braver woman than I. I don't know that I could have put the first splash of paint on the paper.
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