I can’t remember a time when I didn’t like to draw and paint. I did a lot of painting in high school and a few years after that. I gave it up when life happened, and now that I am ‘retired’ I thought I would start it up again.
I bought a bunch of acrylic paints and brushes, a couple of instructional books, some all-media paper, and began to paint. So far, I only have four paintings, but I have learned some valuable life lessons from the canvas.
First, I have to teach my eye to see. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? Over the years, I have developed a ‘dullness’ about what I see. I need to train my eye to see the colors in God’s world. Color is often subtle, but if you leave it out of the painting, it is quite noticeable. the sky is not a solid blue, nor the grass a solid, shamrock green. The world is full of shades of every color imaginable.
Look at the world around you. What do you see? Is it a crowd of people? or a person in the crowd that stands out. As we look at our world, where is God working? Can you see His hand? Or are we so used to ignoring our world that we can no longer see the movement of God, or see and feel the pain of the people around us? Pray that God will help us all learn how to see the world as He sees it.
Second, I have to learn that not every sky is partly cloudy. I am so used to painting white fluffy clouds on a light blue sky, I have forgotten that, in reality, the sky is often overcast, or with amazing cloud patterns, or foggy, or the clouds are high, cirrus clouds. I have to learn how to paint the reality of life to have a good picture.
Sometimes, we get so comfortable doing things the same way every time, we forget there are a lot of ways to do any given thing. My daddy used to say, “Son, there is more than one way to skin a cat without getting hair in your teeth!” A little gross, but point taken. God wants us to confront reality by getting out of our ‘bunkers’ – our comfort zone. A little change keeps us in touch with the world.
Third, I learned that I am a VERY impatient man about some things. I start a painting, and I want to get it done in one day. A friend of mine is the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Artist of the Year. It takes him weeks to get a painting finished – and they sell for hundreds of dollars. My paintings take a couple of days, and they are worth – well, let’s say – a lot less. I cannot do the quality of painting I want to do unless I take my time.
I guess the point is, we all get in a big hurry to do stuff, or to see stuff happen. We have our own time frame and schedule, and the world had just better meet that expectation. We become impatient with our loved ones, our friends, our church, our God. God is not constrained to the Timex or the Daytimer. Shouldn’t we be on His schedule anyway? Proverbs 3:5-6 instructs us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
It is amazing what God can teach you through the most simple things. Learn these lessons from the canvas. It will change your life.