you are his masterpiece

Welp, once again I regret taking pictures of a painting with my iPhone. As always, about half way down, the photo darkens, obscuring detail and dimension. Awesome. This painting has been kind of a rough ride, until the very end.
Even though I toughed it out enough to call it done, her flaws and failures are still there..glaring at me. I find a little comfort in knowing that I have brought her as far as I knew to take her. 

Colossians 3:23 

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters

I have to remind myself to be glad that her failures reveal the limits of my capabilities. The discipline of oil-painting may develop my skills and creativity, but the honesty in sharing my art develops my soul. That old saying, "beauty is pain," has be true because, I have found humbleness to be both beautiful and painful. 

Ephesians 2:8-9 

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

2 Corinthians 11:30

If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

Originally, my intentions for this piece was for it to be a quick exercise to encourage the frequency of my own productivity. That didn't happen, in fact, it began to get complicated and I fussed for far too long, reworking major features. Soon after she started to go down hill, I took a break from her. When I came back to finish her, I discovered that this "practice piece" was reflecting a little bit of where I'm at right now. At this point in my life, I feel like that wandering woman- with nothing to show for myself. To me, the jackalope represents God's truth- waiting to be discovered among the world's vast fields of apathy and dense forests of self-indulgence. Those rare moments when I feel like truth has found me, I've learned to cling tightly. I fasten my grip, regardless of how uncomfortable it is to be set so far apart from the elitists in society who claim they know what I'm all about (this rabbit hole doesn't fit with my blogs focus, so I'll spare you the rant). My point is, that I have never been wise enough to discover truth on my own, it has always found me, sometimes indirectly but it's source has always been the same.   

     

Its been my experience that when you least expect it, God hands us irrefutable truths, subsequently compelling or heart to abandon huge chunks of our comforting certainty. I've found it to be sort of counterintuitive that, when you seek his wisdom, our black and white world becomes increasingly more grey and the beige uncertainty tends to weld our trust to Him; our faith begins to trump our once formulaic, right and wrong way of navigating through life. In the rare moments when we are humble enough to allow it, God steps in and removes our handcrafted facade of control, gracefully shining light on his truth. He masterfully incorporates our failures into his glorious and beautiful design. 


Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

In these moments, I am reminded that creation- in all of it's grandeur, is His craft. There is something so beautiful about being cornered into honesty while you are in the middle of creating something. When your mind is wrestling with your capabilities and limitations, while you're struggling to communicate through your gifts. Even when your brain is fully occupied with creativity, the holy spirit will quietly respond to challenges of your heart much deeper than your focus..before you've even spoken. It's because of this that I understand why we associate art with communication; why we ask that ridiculous question, "what is this piece saying to you?" Suddenly, it's not that ridiculous, but rather, amazing to realize that sometimes, the communicator is your maker. Out of love, he is constantly working on you; because, you are his masterpiece. 

Amos 4:13

For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!

Jeremiah 10:12 

It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.

Genesis 1:27

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.