Tuesday December 22, 2015
A friend of mine posted a picture on a social network and I commented that I loved the colours. I told her that I’d love to try to paint it – not sure how it would turn out –
but I was willing to give it a try.
I was ready to play with some colour.
As always the first few layers were boring and ugly as they often are in paintings. But as the layers were put on one by one images emerged and the painting began to come to life.
This piece reminds me of a two things:
- Beauty can lie dormant for what seems to be such a long time but the dormancy serves a valuable purpose.
So much of our gardens lie dormant for what seems to be longer than its rich colours and vegetative state actually lasts. But during those rather dull and dormant periods something fascinating occurs.
We are being prepared for something bigger.
Every single one of us was created with purpose. So often our purpose seems difficult to find or can even lie dormant. Seasons change, priorities shift, health issues surface or people get in the way.
But periods of silence and dormancy are brilliant.
I have learned to appreciate them.
For a time it may seem frustrating and totally debilitating. But once the purpose has been served – you emerge a better version of yourself.
The painting is better because of its layers.
- At some point the beauty itself cannot be contained
The spring is one of my favourite seasons. Perhaps that’s why I like this painting so much. Things begin to grow and then all of a sudden, in what seems like a moment, everything is blooming with colour again.
Most recently my wolf and eagle came to life. God allowed them to surface again.
The wolf symbolizes the deepest level of self: inner knowing and intuition.
The eagle symbolizes many things as well but in this season I am reminded that he glides to conserve energy and uses only its energy for the greatest good. He is swift and focused for maximum results. I have learned when to coast and when to accelerate.
Both Peter and Paul understood the value and necessity of using properly everything God has entrusted you with.
1 Peter 4:10 – “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (NIV, highlights my own)
1 Corinthians 12:4-6 “Now there are different kinds of gifts, but the SAME SPIRIT distributes them. There are different kinds of service but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work” (NIV, highlights my own)
I realize that both Peter and Paul in context here are referring to spiritual gifts and speaking to different churches, at different times, in different cultures and in what seems like a completely different world than ours but I feel that it is not far reaching to apply these concepts to that of our natural abilities and passions today. For theses too are God given. Why would I waste anything that God has entrusted me with? Everything that makes up me is through God’s grace – no room for bragging. There is then freedom to rejoice in each other’s gifting’s and talents without judgment or jealousy.
What are your gifts? What has been entrusted to you to use while you are here?
Find yours.
Burst forth and bless the world with it.
JH
“Bursting Forth” – Acrylic on Canvas, 2015
Found a tube video that lends itself nicely to this topic:
teachable spirit. 