“The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man,” Psalm 115:16. It was a gift to us from our Father. Just imagine. Stir your heart to meditation. Close your eyes… Unseen hands caressed with constancy the fortresses of the deep, alighting them with various creatures of color, coral reefs and caverns that kept their secrets. Laws formed under the disguise of beauty. His whispers filling every flowering plant with desire; arousing communion between oceans and sand, forest and stream, mountain and valley. Movement setting to motion springs, chlorophyll, antelope and deer. Kisses to calm the prairies and stir up the breeze. Dew to rejuvenate the earth’s tresses like myrrh. Sweetness poured out. Your lips awaken me…. The firefly sparks a single delight. Imagine. The deep darkness of night cannot hide You. You are discovered by a multitude of stars answering to their names. Your Spirit skips among the brook stones and the bubbling waters giggle underneath Your feet. “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you,” Psalm 139:17-18. Many waters, many thoughts. Unsearchable, unquenchable. All of them for me…. Are you there yet?
A garden planted in Eden. The fragrant, flowering paradise of the first of the children of men. God was there. Calling, answering, seeking and being found. No inner turmoil in the human breast and no controversy in the atmosphere. No wars or rumors of them. All was calm and all was bright. The continuity of relationships, atmospheres and all of planet earth.
Despite the tragedy that Eden became, I still believe that it was a perfect idea. The Divine Creator set out one day to have a family. The way that He did this gives us a fascinating glimpse into His beautiful heart. Genesis 1 tells us that for six days He never stopped working. From the moment that His Spirit hovered over the face of the watery, murky planet, His Artful hands and Conceptive words began forming and seeding the surface. The Creator stuck His fingers into the grey mud and moved it. Like a Potter forming His clay. “But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand,” Isaiah 64:8. The thoughts of creation may conjure up mental displays of magical movements, sparkling blasts and instantaneous phenomena. Perhaps it was this way. But as an artist myself I am aware that art does not happen accidentally or magically. It takes time, deep thought, careful placement and strokes of genius. What am I trying to communicate through my painting? What will the eye of the beholder immediately see? What details should I add to flavor it? What sort of production do I intend audiences to glean of generations from now? What was God saying to us from the first moment of Earthen history? The Genesis account declares to us that God created the fundamentals and details of our world with order and purpose. “And God separated the light from the darkness,” Genesis 1:4. “And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear’,” Genesis 1:9. Although, to the naked eye, creation may have unfolded with fantastic bangs and beautiful displays of color, the entire process was well ordered and expertly designed. God made a dysfunctional planet very functional. He created a dwelling place. A structure that could support Life. His Life, to be exact, contained in an earthen vessel.
Six days of constant transformation.
No comments:
Post a Comment