A few weeks ago, I wrote the first post of our Overcoming Decorating Paralysis series, and it was not exactly how I had planned to begin the series. Nevertheless, I felt stirred to air an inner struggle that I often faced regarding the balance of fitting interior decorating within the entire context of the human experience.
Heavy. I know. But, my oh my. I discovered that this was a topic to be reckoned with. I got a tremendous, HUGE response from my readers {and if you still have not read all of the amazing comments, you really must!}. And what surprised me about the response was not that there were so many… but that they were ALL heartfelt. This truly is a struggle that many are facing.
But there was one comment that brought me to tears. My amazing friend Angela. oh my. That girl is a true Artist – with the paintbrush, with her style, and as a wordsmith. And lo and behold. That girl knows how to dish up some truth!
I contacted Angela to see if she would give me permission to share her comment as a post {it is that good}, and she humbly blushed through the computer and said that she trusted me.
If you have not read the full post, I encourage you to do so before diving in to Angela’s comment, so that you have the context of this topic that dealt with faith, poverty, creating, art, purpose…. and other light topics like that {smile}:
…. “Excellent, thoughtful, brave post, Darlene!
So…here are my thoughts on the matter, in no way organized or whatever: The Bible begins with an Artist before a blank canvas, a world black and void. He spends days creating a diverse work filled with usefulness (water, fruit trees, and other food) but also filled with creations of sheer beauty, for the absolute love of beauty and nothing else (ridiculous colorful fish and gloriously varied flowers come to mind).
This original and awe-filled scene has been set for the crown jewel of his creation–man and woman who are created in his very image. An image that values beauty, DESIRES beauty–and something that causes my skin to ripple in goosebumps and my eyes to fill with tears–an image that, like Him, CAN CREATE beauty as well. Imagine! The joy he felt in creating the intricacies of our world in perfection, He instilled in us–and that becomes manifest in a bajillion different ways…architect, artist, baker, decorator, musician, writer, etc, etc. So that when a human is instilled with this talent, this creativity, there is no denying its existence because denying its existence is like denying part of His image and denying ourselves and the PLEASURE of creating. God wants us to feel pleasure at creating, that joy, that rush, that heart-filled euphoria–He wants us to say, as He did, at the end of the day “And it is good.” Frivolous, no.
Before … pain and suffering, there was beauty and happiness. I don’t think it is a coincidence that the world seeks, more than anything, beauty and happiness. But just because there is suffering now because of sin, that doesn’t diminish the value of beauty. There are perspectives to take, of course, and opportunities to use our gifts and talents to benefit others–possibly being the difference between life and death. But we can’t all be teachers in struggling schools, doctors, workers in foreign lands, peacemakers, pilots who fly lifesaving supplies to needed areas. Just as the pilot is called to be who she is, the artist is called to be who she is. A body with many parts–helping each other do what we are called to do. No one person can do it all, right?
But absolutely, positively, anything can become an idol in our hearts. And how easy for the thing that we love to do, that we are designed to do, to become overpowering in our life. Nothing should be more important than our treasures in Heaven.
….I love to read about Bezalel in Exodus {see here and here}.
I also love that Revelation ends with the promise of the two things we seek so desperately: happiness and beauty. There will be no more pain or sorrow, and then John immediately describes the beauty of the scene of Heaven, of the materials used in its construction ( we’re talking jewels and gold here and not Formica, ha!).
….Thank you, Darlene, for provoking meditations in me about a very special gift God has given me and my friends like you. I always like to think about how eager God is to give us good things, like an earthly father to his child.”
No, really. Thank YOU, Angela. Thank you.
