Awakening the Artist Within

"By this my father is glorified, that you bear much fruit..." John 15:8

"The glory of God is man fully alive." St. Iraneus of Lyons 

Many of us are asleep on the inside. God has awakened me to his potential. 

What do you do when you wake up? Do just roll over and go back to sleep? I must admit, I often hit the snooze a couple of times when the alarm goes off. I just want to sleep a little bit longer. But God has a work for me. He has given me the heart and the ability of an artist. He has awakened that ability in me and the desire to make meaningful artwork that will bring glory to his name. I now have an inclination toward being an artist, but too often I choose to roll over and sleep just a little more. So, the work God has for me simply does not get done.

Jesus has woken us up, but we often drift back off to sleep. We are awake but can't seem to get out of bed. The world, flesh and Satan all conspire together to keep us warm and cozy in our beds. When it comes to living my fullest potential I am my own worst enemy. I can blame this unholy trinity, but ultimately, I am the one who gives permission to them; it is my choice. I am the one who chooses to keep hitting the snooze button on my potential in God. He has called me to create beauty in his name, and empowered me by his grace and enables me by his Spirit. Oswald Chambers said, "God not only expects me to do his will, but he empowers me to do it."

"Continue to work out your own salvation," said St. Paul, "in fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." (Phil. 2:12-13) 

What is God's good purpose? It is for me to be fully alive in Christ Jesus. This is my highest potential. It is possible! I can become what God created me to be. I can do all that God has prepared for me to do. He has given me the will to do it and he works in me to carry it out. I can be the artist he has created me to be. 

There is a deeper will in me drives me to succeed in being the artist God has called me to be. But there is a more shallow will; one that is closer to the surface of my life. This shallow will does not take the long view. It only wants instant, immediate gratification. It wants to feel good now. It is stubborn to the will of God and mostly seems to focus on the will of the flesh; it wants to exert its own rights. It comes up with all kinds of excuses, some of them are good, to keep from creating the art he has emplanted in my soul. 

The fruit of my life as an artist is the work of my hands. God has given me a work to do. He has awakened my soul to this work. My creative works may be the impetus God uses to awaken another soul to his or her potential in God. If I keep hitting the snooze, I may be in some way keeping another soul from awakening.

      Picking Berries. Woodblock print. 9"x11" 

"Still I Wonder..."

Small woodcut print, about 3"x5"... Title based on an old Creedence Clearwater Revival song, "Who'll Stop the Rain?" 

Bearing fruit

I want to be patient. I want to be gentle. I want to have peace, joy, goodness... I want to love and be loved. I can desire these and still not have them. I can practice all kinds of techniques and disciplines and still fall short. I may occasionally act kind. I may periodically find myself being patient with a situation that would otherwise cause much impatience. Yet these instances of fruitfulness do not make me the kind of person I want to be. They only serve as occasional contrasts to the person I am. I wish to be the kind of person from whom these things naturally flow out. 

Jesus said, "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in me." The key to fruitfulness is to abide. In order to become the kind of person I want to be I must abide in Christ. Christ is not simply some historical figure I must look at from a distance in order to pattern my life after, he is a living shelter into which my soul must take residence moment by moment, day by day. 

There are all kinds of "shelters" offered by the world around me. The question is, which one am I living in? Some of these places are simply distractions that keep me from my true home. They look like comfortable abodes, and they are, for awhile. But soon they cease to bring about the promised comfort. They may seem safe for awhile, but they soon become treacherous. 

It requires intentionality to continue in Christ. As soon as I recognize that I am no longer bearing the fruits of the Spirit I must turn my heart back toward my true home in Christ. I say to The Lord, "My soul finds rest in you alone."

I don't know what makes me think that I can become the man I desire in my own strength. It is not in me to do this. But there is a power that comes form God and resides in my soul. As I abide in Christ, His Spirit takes up residence in me and empowers me to live in Christ, the life I was created to live; the life I desire to live. 

May I continue to abide in Christ. May I find myself resting in the shelter of his wings. When my soul finds its true home in Christ, His Spirit is at home in me. 

Reflections for the Fourth Sunday in Advent

We are at our best when we give to others. The human heart truly rejoices at giving and serving others. We may have some level of plastic joy at getting something new, but soon the newness wears off and we have to get more. This is a principle that works the same way with giving and serving, we must give and serve more and more in order to truly rejoice. 

God must be the most joyful being in the universe, he is continually giving and serving.

We are most like Christ when we are giving. "God so loved the world that he gave..." 

Matt. 1:18-25 says "... you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins... 'And they shall call him Emmanuel,' which means 'God is with us.'" 

God did not create us because he needed us. He is the most self sufficient being in the universe. He is not lonely. He created us that he might show forth his grace and love to us and through us. He did not create us because he needed us to be with him, he created us that he might be with us. His love is so overflowing that he had to make containers for the excess of it. Those of us who have received Christ are those containers, and we are meant to be with God and for him to be with us, so that the overflow of his love will spill over into the empty souls around us. 

Third Sunday of Advent

Is. 35:1-10

"The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad..."

The wilderness is untamed and path-less. It is a dry arid place where you truly experience thirst and a feeling of lostness. 

The wilderness causes us to come face to face with our true condition. We must spend time in the wilderness in order to truly know our desperate need of God. 

This world that we live in does not let us really get to the wilderness. This world provides all kinds of distractions and pleasures in order to keep us from the wilderness experience. 

If you have had a kind of wilderness experience then you will recognize when the gladness of the blossom comes. You will never know the fulfillment of a cool drink of water unless you have been really thirsty. 

Does your soul long for God as in a dry and weary land? Or are you satisfied with business as usual? Do you get your needs met by the things of this world, entertainment, sports, work, money, sex, shopping for something new, food...? Or, do these things hold no attraction for you? 

We find the joy of The Lord at the end of these things, the problem is that there seems to be no end to these things. There is always an abundance of pleasures and diversions offered by this wold. Therefore we need to be intentional about finding wilderness experience in our everyday lives. We must seek out places in our lives where there is nothing but God... How? 

Silence

Solitude

Fasting

Prayer

James tells us to "purify your hearts... Turn your joy into mourning..." 

Some experience the wilderness through loss. Many have lost jobs and loved ones. It is in these times that we are faced with a choice: we can see these as opportunities to experience God in the desert or we can turn to the countless solutions that the world offers. The choice is yours. 

Soul Surgery

God "calms you with his love and delights you with his songs." Zeph. 3:? 

I have always believed it was I who was to sing songs to God. To have God sing songs to me is a bit uncomfortable for me to consider. When I sing to Him, I am in control, to allow him to sing over me entails a loss of control. 

The contemplative Christian life is one of allowing oneself to lose control. It is not natural for me to sit in silence. I need to be talking; to "talk it out" and fix everything with my words. But, to truly find holiness and healing I must be willing to be still. When the surgeon enacts surgery on the body, the person is put to sleep. When the great surgeon works on the soul, the person must be still. 

Pantocrator

In the traditional icon Christ speaks a blessing over his people. In this new woodcut I recently finished a man seems to ignore the blessing in order to seek his own.