Trinity

A while ago, I was talking with a friend who was struggling with the concept of the Trinity. As I thought about this, I couldn't help but think of electricity. If we are the light bulb, the Father is the source of electricity or the breaker, Christ is the medium through which the electricity is poured or the cord, and the Holy Spirit is the flow of electricity by which the light bulb is lit. All three are necessary to light the bulb. As humans, we can go throughout life without the Triune God, but we fail to fulfill our purpose. Just as a light bulb can exist without being lit, but what's the point.

Advent 2007

Dedicated as a Christmas gift to my dearest friend, Jason. God bless.

Hope
Advent – Week 1

















God, by the power of your holy son’s blood, you wash away our sins.

Initially this was a “mess up”. I’d tried to create a sunrise… a tree… I failed.

I painted the entire canvas blue and began dripping water over the painting. Gradually, the water began to remove the layers of paint wherever it passed. This got me thinking – Jesus’ blood similarly washes the sin from our souls – so I added red.
Sin is usually symbolized with black, so once again I started over. This time, I painted the canvas black.
As I dripped the red across the black, I realized I’d have to add water to thin it enough to get the effect I wanted. Adding water to the red paint, I thought of baptism and how through the sacrament we are made new and cleansed of our sins.
The black began to fade and the white of the canvas underneath began to show as the “blood” and water washed over it.
Dipping the brush repeatedly into the water made it cloudy and black. With fresh water, the white of the canvas showed through even more.

By Christ’s blood and the water of our baptism, our sins are washed away. And yet we continue to fall short and sin. When we let go of our pride and regrets, and renew ourselves in Christ, we allow Him to work more deeply – just as getting fresh water helped to bring out more of the original white of the canvas – how the Creator originally formed us. The process of being completely restored in Christ takes a lifetime, but hopefully in the end we will have / become a clean canvas. In the meantime, let us humbly enjoy the beauty of what He is doing – transforming our hearts.

May we fully yield ourselves to Christ’s transforming love through His death on the cross and new life through baptism.


Peace
Advent – Week 2

















God, in the chaos and confusion of life, may we find calming peace in knowing that you are supreme. You make everything we see and all that lay beyond the stretches of our imaginations. When we look out to the night sky, let us be reminded that you are much bigger than anything we could ever know and that you’re orchestrating it all.

I had in mind what I wanted this painting of peace to look like. Yet, as I began to put my thoughts onto the canvas, they became muddled. Taking a deep breath, I painted it all black and set it aside to dry.
Turning to work on the next canvas, I became frustrated once again that my ideas were not transpiring as I so desperately wanted them to.
Breathing in deeply and whispering a calming prayer, I began to paint with a watery paintbrush that splattered all over – including the blackened canvas that I’d set aside to dry. The splatters looked like stars. Returning to the black canvas, I flung more paint across the canvas to reveal a galaxy of stars that looked more impressive than the original idea I was going for.
Suddenly I realized that while my hands and mind were working – choosing the colors and actions – the ability to create or produce anything remotely meaningful comes from God. Just as the paintbrush is my instrument, I am His.

Let us humbly yield ourselves to God, that He may produce wonders beyond our imagination and find peace in serving the Artist of all.



Joy
Advent – Week 3

















God, may we experience your overwhelming joy as we offer ourselves to you. Let us share the love you have so selflessly offered us with all who you bring into our lives.

Once again, this painting is not my own.
For quite some time I struggled with every detail of this piece, including the color. As you can see from the edges, I went from bluish-green to brown. Several times I scraped and wiped the canvas until finally the dingy background is what I was left with.
Mixing a green, I simply began to paint squiggly (yes, that’s a professional term) lines. Then I highlighted them in yellow and red – still having no idea where the painting was going. Randomly, I decided to add some blue.
All the while thinking of God’s joy and trying to figure out just what exactly it means to have His joy and to spread it. Most of the time, I find God’s joy in serving others and giving of what He’s offered me.
As I stepped back and looked at this new creation, I realized that there is almost the outline of a hand opened. Interesting that when we are open to God and use what He’s given us, we often use our hands.
The brown background reminds me that the work we are called to do is not always pretty and glamorous.
The random blue parts make me think of the Spirit and how it’s the Spirit that through each of us to reach others.

May we open ourselves to humbly serve the Lord and His people while allowing God to work through others to reach us. Thank you for helping us to recognize that to give is often much better than to receive. Help us to keep this in mind throughout this blessed season.



Love
Advent – Week 4

















God, may we learn to love as you do – willingly offering all that we have for the betterment of others.

Originally I was going to paint a picture of a flower reflected in water with the idea is that God’s love is the flower and we reflect it – imperfectly.
Anyway, as usual the idea did not work so well and the canvas ended up blue. Playing around with some yellow and white, it began to form a shining star. I thought about the star of Bethlehem and the beginning of Christ’s life.
God expressed His love for us by coming to the earth. But the extent of His love did not end there.
He loved us so much that He took our sins upon Himself at Calvary while we mocked Him, placing on His head a crown of thorns. Talk about indescribable and unselfish love.
The whole meaning of Christmas is bound up in this painting that yet again I did not intend to paint.

God, your love is so amazing. I stand in awe, wondering ‘why me’? So often I've taken advantage of the unfailing love you offer – acknowledging this, I am ashamed and humbled. I don’t deserve this kind of love. Everything I have – the very breath in my body – is given to me freely. How generous you are, Lord. Teach me to love as you do.

The Artist

As winter begins to settle in, I’ve been enjoying the sunrise coming later in the mornings. They’ve been absolutely glorious – the slow and steady process is breathtakingly beautiful.


Yesterday, there were several times while at work I happened to look outside and saw the beautiful clouds in new and amazing arrangements. Then later, at the Y, while the sun was setting, I looked out and admired the ripples of dark bluish-purple clouds highlighted in the sun’s deep pinkish-orange light. It was so magnificent I couldn’t help but stare at their beauty from indoors and long for the warm days already, just to be able to sit outside and enjoy the expanse without freezing my tail off.


It’s got me thinking, though, and as I sat singing and reflecting this morning of God’s greatness and His creation, it struck me that so often I think of creation soley as ‘the beginning of time’ - completely excluding the present. I realize now that the artist has not put down His paintbrush nor the author, His pen.


He creates a new sunrise each morning; a new sunset each night; transforming the sky each moment of the day. He creates new life in the fields – even now as the plants wither in the cold, He prepares for the springtime. The world moves and changes according to His will.

In much the same way, He transforms hearts.

I'm a bit embarassed to admit that there have been a number of occasions where I'm ready to give up on people - even myself. I feel utterly hopeless - like change is impossible. But, as I look out at the sky and breath deeply, peace is restored. For it is not I who change people, but rather God. He brings the sun up each morning and new flowers each spring. He remains faithful and continues to work even when we don't recognize His labors.

I pray we have patience and trust in our marvelous Creator. Let us not lose hope when the process seems painstakingly slow like awaiting the sunrise or the new flowers of springtime. Instead, let us find the beauty in each moment and peace in knowing that God is and always will be transforming and creating.

Let us yeild ourselves to His work, becoming His servants that He may use us to love and transform the world.

Looking back...

As I was driving to church tonight, I looked to the horizon to take in the beauty of the sunset. The rear-view mirror obstructed the view. Curious to think of just how often it seems that our past gets in the way of the beauty God has displayed right in front of us.

Wobbly beginnings... YIKES

So. This is officially my first blog ever. Please be kind.

I started this website a while ago thanks to the prompting of a good friend... and pretty much had no idea what to say.

The other day I took a gander at this friend's blog site (which you should check out at deviantmonk.com) and was inspired, if you will, to write the following in response.

(I really recommend reading his blog entitled "The God of the Humble" first as this will make at lease some sense if you do:)... And it's pretty amazing in general.)

For the lazy out there, in "The God of the Humble", "the monk" describes how the trees cannot help but be beautiful because they humble themselves before God. He also states that the beauty that is emitted from them has nothing to do with him as an individual, that regardless of his existence or presence this beauty would continue. Furthermore, he declares that regardless of our own agendas, God's will supersedes and thus we should place our full hope in the Creator and not the creation. (Forgive me if I have completely missed your point.)

While I find much truth in what "the monk" says, it is important to remember that it is the individuals that work together that make up the whole. I'm reminded that we are called "parts of the body of Christ". Each individual has it's minute part to play for the betterment of the whole. Without the individual parts, though, there would be no whole. I believe we are called to a selfless existence where we consider how each of us personally can better serve the whole rather than the individual.

We are "made in His image" and thus have greater responsibility than other parts of creation. God has offered us free will and thus to follow God and humble ourselves before him is our choice.

The trees, on the other hand, do God's will because there is no choice. Their beauty abounds regardless of our existence and presence because they are fulfilling their purpose just by simply being. However, there is a greater depth of beauty that can develop within humans - love. It's in choosing to humble ourselves that true love and faith begin and develop, and the greater beauty of God is found.

How is it then that we choose to humble ourselves before God?

In Autumn, the trees' leaves die and fall off revealing their gnarled and twisted branches and scarred bark. Then in the Spring, they develop full and vibrant, fresh leaves. As a part their audience, we enjoy visually the beauty of God that this process professes.

We, likewise, are humbled in dying of ourselves similarly in that we strive to fulfill God's purpose for us to love with the love of Christ, considering the betterment of others ahead of our individual self.

I saw a simple example of this the other day at work. I am a receptionist at a doctor's office - pain management of all things. So the other morning, a woman drove her friend to work. As she waited, she knitted what looked like a beautiful scarf. Being bored and curious, I asked her about her project. Come to find out, she was actually crocheting a hat for the homeless. In her free time, this woman worked to warm those who would soon be without warmth with the coming of winter and doing so without expectation of receiving something in return. This selfless act is what I think Christ calls us to. Faith drives us to action and these actions drive us to deeper faith.

Another, more vague example. More difficult perhaps. It's offering the selfless and pure love that Christ offered us to others - not just in giving of the material necessities, but going deeper. Penetrating the hurt and anger that much of the world seems to feel. Breaking through the walls that so many have built. It's being available to listen and care even when there seems that no one is there to reciprocate. Or even in being honest and opening ourselves to others that they may receive the opportunity to love, too. Willing to reveal our gnarled branches and mistakes. Recognizing that strength comes from God alone. We are reminded in Psalm 55 to "Cast our cares upon the Lord, he will sustain us". It's in giving all we have in every way to God and trusting in Him to see us through. Giving to the point of pain and knowing that it is God who heals.

But these acts are the result of receiving His wondrous love.

To be completely humble, we must graciously accept the love and gifts that God offers in His time - whether it be in the beauty of His creation, the comfort of a friend, or the acceptance of Christ's sacrifice. It's in accepting these gifts that we are encouraged to turn around and offer all of ourselves selflessly to others.

So, I believe that it is God's will that we love with the love He's so freely given. Ultimately, it will happen that way. Unfortunately in the meantime, we will continue to falter. But we must not lose hope because it is often in our mistakes that God's love is proven that much more powerful and healing.

I'm finding in my own life that His plan for me is much greater than anything I could ever have imagined. When I recognize that He loves me to the point of torture and death, I cannot help but entrust my life to Him and strive to serve Him more humbly each day. I think of the book of Ruth. Could she have ever known that because of her submission to God's plan, the lineage for our Savior would be created? Or Moses - did he have any idea how many great works God would work through Him? He didn't even want to accept the task. He'd messed up over and over. Or Jonah, even. His story reminds me - reassures me - that God has great ways of getting us to do His will especially when there's a specific job for us. So no matter how we mess up, there is still hope.

Just as He provides rain and nourishment for the grass and trees that they may fulfill their purpose, so will He provide for us.

Humbly, though, we recognize that most of us play seemingly minor roles in this masterpiece. We have daily decisions to make and, often, like Ruth probably don't see the effects of our lives. But when we simply remember our purpose to love and serve the Lord, we rest secured that He will work in and through us.

So, I'm not exactly sure how I got to this point. I hope if you've read it and not fallen asleep that you can find something useful in the chaos and just be thankful that your mind is probably not as discombobulated as mine:).