"Deep and mature friendship does not mean that we keep looking each other in the eyes and are constantly impressed or enraptured by each other's beauty, talents, and gifts, but it means that together we look at him who calls us to his service." ~ Henri Nouwen

When many think of an artistic calling, they imagine one struggling, tormented in soul, crying to be heard, living a bohemian life, consumed by his craft. This is not the picture of a Christian artist. Our craft is handiwork, an offering of worship to the God whose image we bear. We create because He first created and as Imago Dei, we bear His creative mark within us. ~ Craig Pitman

In our modern, scientific world, we often reject imagination as the opposite of rational thought and reasoning. Such is not the case. A creative imagination well regulated by reason and rational thought, is a critical element of the life of faith. As such, our imaginations provide one of the primary ways by which we encounter God. ~ Alive Now, July/August 2009 (Upper Room Ministries)

When we discount the imagination, we cut ourselves off from the riches that can fuel our creativity. We limit the ways we can view the world and our own experience. There is much more to life than can be contained in rational philosophy. ~ Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

This song always warms my heart and makes me smile.

If

Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together. ~ John Ruskin

"You are loved and accepted and forgiven for all your faults. You are also important, but not because of your looks, intelligence or great singing voice. You are important in an intrinsic and essential way that is based on the deeper you-ness that does not need talent, looks, power or success to justify itself. You are alive in this time to do something that matters in the eternal scope of reality. Everything you do — everything you do — matters. Instead of trying to please people, which is the equivalent of, as Jesus said, building your house of sand, realize that you do not have to earn the right to exist. You have a right to be here because you were put here by the same God Who made everything, everywhere." ~ Rebecca Hamilton

Resist Comparison

(I originally wrote this on July 7, 2010)

BEING an Original

Have you ever met another artist whose work you consider better than yours, and they in turn consider your work better than theirs, and you are faced with this connundrum before you where it's as if you are looking in a mirror, and this mirror makes you laugh for a minute at the absurdities of comparison? We can admire and imitate others, but no matter what you do, you are still going to have your own unique twist on it because we are all one of a kind originals ourselves.

We have something in common though. We are all like jars of clay. But the shape of each pot is different and unique and will never be repeated in all of history. God is telling a unique story through the medium of each of our lives. What happens when you start resisting the shape that you are being molded into and being envious of the pot on the wheel on the other side of the studio? You fall apart. You lose focus on yielding yourself to the hands of the Creator, and forget to see the unique gifts that are in your life and you fail to appreciate them.

We don't have to strive to be an original. We come into this world an original. Look at siblings in the same circumstances raised by the same exact parents and they still divurge into their own patterns and ways of reacting to their environments. So, a basic instruction by our parents is necessary, but they have to let go and let you unfold in our own unique way, which may not necessarily follow a linear pattern or strict set of rules. Many artists can have the same art teacher and may be doing the same lesson, but the artworks they create will still have it's own unique flavor to it.

Do not berate yourself over your unique qualities. What you consider your weakness, may be the exact place where God is at work. Berating yourself has nothing to do with humility. It comes from a spirit that is not of God. That is an insult to the one who made you. Call no one Master but God. Even the artists we call 'The Great Masters' are dependent on 'The MASTER' whether they realize this or not.

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." - Psalm 139:14

Today I watched an old silent movie called The White Sister. It was so very sad. I forgot it was a silent movie because I got so into the story. I wonder if my Grandmother or my mother once saw this movie?