The Invitation of the Artist: Remembering What Beauty Our Messes Bring
I didn’t like how rifling through my backpack for my journal disturbed the place. But, the place didn’t seem to mind. Maybe it enjoyed having a new presence. I felt a little more free to let my eyes wander around the beauty of the hall and to be inspired.
Alone I sat in a chapel staring at a piano that was intimidating, yet, inviting to me. That morning, the blinds were pulled but the white tile and bright walls kept the hall alive. Surrounded by red accents and silence, I decided to write.
I just wanted to sit and rest and think about the Lord for awhile. But, as I entered the chapel, I knew that I would be doing a little more than thinking: I’d be doing some listening too.
A few days before, I had told my Bible study that I connected with God the most through writing. I write my prayers and I write about His truth and talk with Him as I do. (or, if you’re like my friend Yahtzee, you could connect with God most by lying in bed…)
But within this chapel I realized that writing is only part of the real connector.
For me, the creative process acts as a looking glass into God’s beautiful character.
I love thinking of God as the Master Artist.
The First Author.
It’s overwhelming to me the color He can paint on nothing, the words He can place in mouths and on pages, the fantastic dreams He gives us as we sleep, and brilliant light that streaks across skies or sparkls on a black night canvas.
What’s even more awesome is that His art doesn’t just stop with nature and tangible works.
A conversation that changes a life’s course, a look that launches a romance, a hug that holds us together when we’re falling apart, a prayer answered in perfect time, a baby’s touch, and two old people laughing as they look back on life are all masterpieces in their own way.
Only God can create such artwork, can author such characters and their stories.
I think most of the time Christians only think as God as the Master Artist in the sense that He is always shaping our own lives.
But let us not forget that He invites us to create along with Him, to wonder at and witness beauty’s beginnings first hand.
I think this is reason number one why He invites us to be creators and “wonderers” alongside Him: He knows the feeling of watching an art unfold is an incredible, freeing, and meaningful feeling and He wants us to have that kind of life.
In the theatre world, and the art world in general, there’s a skill that artists must develop: continually making our work interesting to us.
Continually nurturing a spirit that lets itself be captivated by life.
When we ourselves wonder in amazement at what we are creating, the art is more alive and so are we.
The Lord holds this skill flawlessly.
He never loses interest in His art, in our stories. Our excitement is His excitement. When we discover something new or laugh, He wonders along with us.
God, in perfect step with the extravagant lover that He is, goes so far as to be interested in us even when we really aren’t worth wondering at. When our stories aren’t heading towards a happy ending.
I fail at being interested in my art, being interested in life, and being interested in people. I let things slip by without letting them captivate me like they are meant to.
In fact, a lot of the time the world just doesn’t seem worth marveling at.
I don’t seem worth marveling at.
But God is such a Master Artist because He continues to wonder in His art.
He keeps gazing on everything even when it’s everything it’s not supposed to be.
Even when it’s ugly; even when it’s forgone it’s special place of honor.
What artist would watch His prized work fall from it’s showcase and continue to love it’s pieces? What author continue to read an old story through ripped or burnt pages?
The best kind of artist.
Christ never looks at our shattered mess when we’ve fallen from our showcase and despairs.
God is the Master Artist because He doesn’t see a fallen piece as an ending and a mere memory of greatness.
The Master Artist sees our mess as a chance to recreate. To infuse us with joy again. To help us remember the full life is one where we are constantly wide eyed at all it’s happenings.
The best artists understand that to make an end is to make a beginning. He is always creating.
He is always inviting us to create, captivate, and wonder.
I love that God is the Master Artist and that means He will never lose interest.
He will always give us chances to marvel and to be marvelous.
He will always pick up a mess and see a new beauty.
He will always be excited to create new beginnings.
He will always invite us to create and wonder alongside Him.
To be a work of artistry and to create artistry.
Because He knows that we are meant to be captivated by beauty, and He made life to do just that.