Yesterday I got an art lesson for the first time in 15 years. Don’t ask me why I set it up, I just did. A lot of “strange things” happen when Christianity removes the fear of failure or judgment from yourself or others. God made each of us uniquely and gives us gifts so that we may love Him and love others creatively.
Before my lesson, I spent several weeks sketching in a notepad. I would draw bottles or children’s toys or whatever was lying around the house. In all candor, especially accounting for my rustiness, I thought I was pretty good.
“Not bad. Not bad at all. I’m getting the hang of this.”
I am sure it will shock you to hear, but my instructor took one look at my notebook and promptly decided that I was not, in fact, the second coming of Leonardo da Vinci. See over the years, I’ve forgotten a few of the laws of perspective -- concepts such as horizon lines or vanishing points. These rules were distant echoes in my memory. I vaguely understood that you couldn’t just freeform, but I couldn't remember exactly. Regardless, I certainly felt like I was being truthful to what I was seeing.
Before my lesson, I spent several weeks sketching in a notepad. I would draw bottles or children’s toys or whatever was lying around the house. In all candor, especially accounting for my rustiness, I thought I was pretty good.
“Not bad. Not bad at all. I’m getting the hang of this.”
I am sure it will shock you to hear, but my instructor took one look at my notebook and promptly decided that I was not, in fact, the second coming of Leonardo da Vinci. See over the years, I’ve forgotten a few of the laws of perspective -- concepts such as horizon lines or vanishing points. These rules were distant echoes in my memory. I vaguely understood that you couldn’t just freeform, but I couldn't remember exactly. Regardless, I certainly felt like I was being truthful to what I was seeing.
The truth was much harsher -- I had just made up my own laws of perspective. So while I thought I was making faithful representations of the objects in the room, I was really manipulating them beyond all recognition. What is more alarming, I actually thought they were accurate. It turns out that while I thought I was being creative, I had turned myself into a creator... Stuff gets screwed up quickly when I try to replace God’s laws of nature with my laws. And so, the instructor and I spent the bulk of the first lesson simply relearning the basic laws of perspective.
In the same way, I wonder how often it is I’m also inventing my own laws for living. How frequently do I think I’m pleasing my own Creator, when actually what I’m doing couldn’t be further from His desires? I’m scared to know the answer, but secretly, I know it is far too often. My heart is so eager to be self-satisfied and it is frightening how easily our own eyes and judgment can lie to us.
Praise the Lord for reminding me in Scripture, during the sermon on the Mount, that each of us falls short of God’s laws. He knows, that we are poor judges of ourselves, so He spells it out for us. In that passage, we are each condemned through our imperfections... There is no wiggling around it.
In the same way, I wonder how often it is I’m also inventing my own laws for living. How frequently do I think I’m pleasing my own Creator, when actually what I’m doing couldn’t be further from His desires? I’m scared to know the answer, but secretly, I know it is far too often. My heart is so eager to be self-satisfied and it is frightening how easily our own eyes and judgment can lie to us.
Praise the Lord for reminding me in Scripture, during the sermon on the Mount, that each of us falls short of God’s laws. He knows, that we are poor judges of ourselves, so He spells it out for us. In that passage, we are each condemned through our imperfections... There is no wiggling around it.
Yet, though we may be never-ending failures in the Law, we are joyously reminded of our need for Him and the forgiveness that is always available to us because of what Jesus has done.
I pray that I might call myself back to the Sermon on the Mount, whenever I begin to feel self-satisfied; for in that scripture, the real satisfaction that my heart longs for (the love of our Creator) can be found. Praise the Lord!
CPP
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