Don't forget to pause #ArtWeekSeries

“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” These are words from Van Goethe; a German poet, novelist and playwright.

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I remember when I was young, we lived next to these two guys; I think they were brothers (never got the guts to ask how they were related). I really looked up to these two guys. They were painters and did that for a living. Every single day I came from school, I would find that they had put their art paintings outside their doorway so that they could dry. These paintings were INCREDIBLE; from the detail, to the emotion they evoked. I didn’t just want to grow up to be like them, I wanted to be them (they also had dreads and I had vowed when I grew up I would have the similar ones, even longer , it never came to pass though, I don’t think it ever will. 😀 )

Art in itself is beauty, God is beautiful. When you look at the marvels of creation from the Milky Way, (at times described as a band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye) 100,000 light years in size; all that is just a glimpse of His creation.

“We often get tangled up on life’s cycles that we forget to pause. Pause to see the beauty and miracles around us, from the smile of a newborn baby, to that amazing cup of coffee that just somehow helps kick starts your day, from that morning sunrise to the beauty of the twinkling of stars in the night.”

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To wrap this up for now, here’s a parting shot, some little poetry by Jefferson Bethke.

Be blessed and don’t forget to pause.

   The greatest artist of all time;              

  A guy came up to me the other night right

And he was like, “Who’s your favorite artist?”

And like most people do when they ask a question

He didn’t really care about my answer

And proceeded to tell me what he thought the true answer was

And he continued about his struggle to recognize

Who he said was the greatest of all time

He said “I mean is it Shakespeare, is it Frost, Picasso, Michelangelo, Is it the Beatles, Rembrandt, Michael Jackson, Beethoven?”

And he went on and on and on about who he thought was the greatest.

Not recognizing that even his infrastructure to answer that question was mislead and outdated

And so finally I kindly smile and said Ok, sir, you asked me who is the greatest of all time

Now you tried to share yours, so let me share mine because there’s no debate about

Who is the greatest cause all those other artists you mentioned,

yeah, The greatest made ’em

And see this artist he’s a beast, a lion, the name above names.

You don’t even realize it but you encounter his art every day

And he deserves all of the acclaim. He deserves all of the fame.

Cause all other artists pass away but He remains

Oh, by the way, his name is God Yahweh, Creator, Your Maker

He’s infinitely creative, sir there is no one greater

And I can tell it looks like you’re starting to get mad at me

But don’t be jealous just ’cause your favorite artist might bend words. My favorite artist bends galaxies

See in the palm of his hand he holds all the sand

The author of life when he whispered, “Let us make man.”

See what if I told you that you are God’s poetry

You were created because someone else was creative

See long ago he picked up his eternal paint brush dipped it in his glory

Placed us in his story and said, “They will live for me.”

And I know it sounds outland-ish but we’re not the product of random chances

And, in fact, we’re not even the vine. We’re actually the branches.

In the same way we’re not the artists. We’re actually the canvas.

Because in an instant God started to make art.

Shaped you uniquely and beautiful. Individual from the start.

And he touched the canvas of flesh and said, “This one is better than the rest.

I’ll give him so much of my image So even when they’re hot off the press, you can still see the steam of my breath.”

And so he crafted and he made every arm and leg.

Ligaments, tendons, muscles, blood vessels, veins, arteries.

He said, ” They’re gonna have a part of me”

And about that time the guy butted back in and said, “That sounds good n’ all, but I’m wretched and filthy. God won’t use me, will he?”

And I said, Ah see that’s what’s awesome about God. No matter what we’ve done, he can still use us.

Even though other artists, once they have broken equipment, They start to make excuses.

God instead doesn’t refuse us and neither does he accuse us. He redeems us in Jesus. Promises never to lose us.

So stop saying’ that your dirt. Stop saying’ your scum of the Earth.

You ought to be careful about how you talk about someone else’s work.

Because if we’ve trusted in Jesus, we can stop saying we’re filthy.

I mean all that is anyways is just pride clothed in false humility.

I mean if we only believed that we’re truthfully created in his likeness,

Then we’d stop sayin’ we’re wretched, filthy, shameful, and guilty.

But instead knowing if we’ve trusted Jesus, we’re righteous.

I mean don’t you see we’re drawn to repentance because of his kindness.

So how dare you call yourself worthless when he says you’re priceless?

But see the best part is since God is ultimately for God, he’ll get glory out of you ,whether you like it or not

Because even temple ruins point to an architect. Even if the temple is shot.

And all I’m saying is that he’s behind it all.

So why do we insist on giving him no credit at all

I mean he’s the one that gave Van Gough the imagination that changed the face of painting.

Tell me who else is responsible for Mozart being able to compose at age 5 without Form of training.

See he made the fingers that Beethoven used to make art on the keys.

For Pete’s sake he made Stevey Wonder, One of the best musicians of our time, and he couldn’t even see.

And that’s why in the same way that our lives are borrowed time, this poem is borrowed lines.

‘Cause the most ridiculous statement we could ever say is that this poem is mine.

Because we’re not self-sustaining, no, we’re not self-creating.

Technically nothing we do is original. We’re just imitating and that’s not a dis’.

All I’m trying to say is this. Even our own creativity is nothing more than an out-flow of his.

And so, I’ll end with this. You know that quote about giving credit where credit is due? Well if that’s true, it’s about time we give God his rightful credit too.

‘Cause he’s a god in the business of making all things new…

and here’s the truth, He’s not through with making a masterpiece of you.

 

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Duncan Kahwai graced us with this meditative piece to end the series. He’s a scientist-creative too, acing as an amazing artist(his drawings are beautiful) and a medical student as well.

Hoping you were blessed by this series. Feel free to come back here any time you’ve forgotten that you are creative, because YOU ARE CREATIVE. Do share this with others so that they too are enlightened; plus don’t forget to subscribe to the blog so that you get regular updates. 🙂

Soli deo gloria.