I've always wanted to go to one of those painting parties. The idea was super exciting in my head. Today I finally made it to one, and then I
remembered... I can't paint...
I consider myself a relatively creative person and even
artistic by some definitions. However,
the actual acts of drawing and painting have eluded me. It's probably why most of my kids' early
childhood art is either some creative version of a handprint or free form...
very free form. I can make stick
figures... sort of. But the truth is,
I'm better with a camera or on the stage.
I'm not sure an introverted perfectionist who sometimes has had
trouble comparing herself with others, lately, could choose a more vulnerable
activity than a painting party. It's a
good thing somebody told me how intimidating I am at the preceding brunch. Because, the facade... yeah, there's that... always that...
So, I'm really intrigued by the
results of these parties. Frequently,
the participants post a picture of the finished products their groups have
created. Interestingly, even though
everybody follows the same directions, and there is an example, and a live
artist/instructor actually shows you every... single... step; no two paintings
ever look the same. And yet, they all
turn out alright.
I took comfort in that, today. I sat down in front of an empty canvas and
thought to myself, "I will probably not be the first person to ever come
to one of these parties aspiring to paint a sunflower and accidentally painting
a boat or something." In the end, I
did, indeed, come home with a version of "Sunflower at Sunset" over
which every single person who lives in my house raved. It's sitting in close proximity to my
"Wake Up, Kick Butt, Repeat" sign... you know, the one that serves as
a backdrop for the John Wesley bobblehead.
This post is just getting way too
personal...
I've been talking a lot about how
God creates in partnership with people.
There's an interesting parallel here.
Think about this. What if God
creates the canvas and the paints and then we all sit down and start to work on
something, given the same basic directions?
What if we all follow those directions the best we can? What if we all love God with our whole being
and love people just like we love ourselves and... also... love ourselves? I'm willing to bet that your picture will
look a whole lot different than mine.
Heck, we might actually end up with sunflowers and boats and abstract
designs (may I paint one of those next time)... But they'll all turn out alright. And your people will probably even rave.
How about some unity in diversity?
L.
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