Casting a Line to HeavenI have heard it said that with faith one can see the invisible, believe the unbelievable, and receive the impossible. I have seen some miracles in my life and have prayed for miracles that I have not yet realized. But after I give thanks, I have reason to believe one day I will know nothing is impossible with God.
I rode to my church way out in the country with my pastor and his wife. We often discuss things that make me reflect long after the Sunday chats. On the sixth of January I confessed to them that I am a paradox, there of two of me struggling to have it one way or another. The skeptic that has some doubt gets easily annoyed with people trying to represent spiritual things in simplistic and iconographic ways. The believer is drawn to art and iconography. The opposition is not good if it is allowed to steal my peace. I want to believe I am in the world, but can be not of the world as is promised in the Bible. |
I began to see on January six, as result of a conversation with Christian friends, a truth about my struggle:
It was no accident that God showed me a life as an artist. I have seen design and art imitate life and understand now that life is ART. I recently saw a photo that so captured my imagination that I wanted to paint my impression of a man “Casting a Line to Heaven” and I imagined a silver thread that connected my soul to God and gave thanks that I will be able to portray that which I imagine, not so much for me, because I have already seen it, but for someone else.
I posted the picture that so prompted my imagination, on Face book and a life long friend commented that the image reminded him of some of the tight place we have had to stand to cast our lines. Yes, my friend Bill, we have to stand in some tight places to cast a line to heaven.
I must stand in tight places and I must struggle with my different personalities, because the Great Unity that will be found in Heaven is a yin and yang thing. Only with my heart can I see into the shadows, and only with my heart I can see in the brightest light! In this world I see yellow spots and try at times, struggling with and without the sun to paint the places where sky meets water and rocks. I stand in tight places on some of the rocks that offers a magnificent view. I weather some storms to witness the fury of nature and to also see it’s beauty! I try different painting techniques to find the best method to visually portray the ever changing face of nature. I write about my trial and error creative process and the tight places I stand to fish and see sublime landscapes.
It was no accident that God showed me a life as an artist. I have seen design and art imitate life and understand now that life is ART. I recently saw a photo that so captured my imagination that I wanted to paint my impression of a man “Casting a Line to Heaven” and I imagined a silver thread that connected my soul to God and gave thanks that I will be able to portray that which I imagine, not so much for me, because I have already seen it, but for someone else.
I posted the picture that so prompted my imagination, on Face book and a life long friend commented that the image reminded him of some of the tight place we have had to stand to cast our lines. Yes, my friend Bill, we have to stand in some tight places to cast a line to heaven.
I must stand in tight places and I must struggle with my different personalities, because the Great Unity that will be found in Heaven is a yin and yang thing. Only with my heart can I see into the shadows, and only with my heart I can see in the brightest light! In this world I see yellow spots and try at times, struggling with and without the sun to paint the places where sky meets water and rocks. I stand in tight places on some of the rocks that offers a magnificent view. I weather some storms to witness the fury of nature and to also see it’s beauty! I try different painting techniques to find the best method to visually portray the ever changing face of nature. I write about my trial and error creative process and the tight places I stand to fish and see sublime landscapes.
I wrote in a recent letter to Samuel, my infant grandson and to anyone who wants to read the note, that a skilled artist knows how to create a beautiful lithograph because of the physical difference of oil and water. In a much greater way God can create a person with a beautiful soul, by blending an individual's awareness of past sin with a desire to serve Him and create living art. Without God in the mix, the soul languishes as unblended unrefined substance that is a murky color, but when this kind of soul is touch by His spirit beautiful refraction shines like a rainbow. Without this excitement, spiritual substance only reflects the culture it is contained in and resonates in course, crude opposition to the ideals of human dignity.
"Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun". - Pablo Picasso. |