The Artist

All week I’ve been struggling (I mean… seriously struggling…) to pick up graphic design and navigate the oasis of writer’s block. As I created one awful piece of typography after another while watching my fingers literally slip off of the keyboard as they dripped with sweat (probably had more to do with the fact that it’s 115 degrees outside and I don’t use the AC), I realized that art is hard… well for some of us. Below is a quote from Octavious Newman, designer of B3ar Fruit (here’s the whole speech):

“God’s a beast… I mean look at yourselves. Go outside, the sun is not wack… The stuff that God creates, it’s really dope… it really is.” – Octavious Newman

During my quite time today, I was reminded of the fact that God didn’t struggle with creation. He’s the most awesome poet of all time, his words created a literal world. And everything in it is always in style. Can you ever really tell Aurora Borealis that it’s not cool anymore? While I hope my own poems have some redeeming quality to them, God was the only fit to evaluate his creation.

And that goes for our own lives as well. God is creating sonnets, poems, concertos and ensembles, fresco, paintings, and graphic designs of the lives of His people (okay maybe not graphic designs…). While they may suck in the moment or don’t look all that hot from the ground view, He’s the only one fit to evaluate his creation… and for all intensive purposes… it’s art.

Below is a poem I wrote earlier today. I’ve also included a link to a site that has a few spoken word pieces on it. I hope they point you towards the Masterful Architect.

Satisfaction

Fingernails, ooze,

Dripping dollops of sulfur

Leaving a perfect canvas tainted.

Bleach and baking soda

Retreat to the shelter of paper towels

As the stain surges forward,

Engulfing the knuckles,

Swallowing the wrists.

Guilty and unclean,

A spiritual bulimic,

As stomach acid refuses to catalyze

Enzymes of esoteric promises.

Torah’s whole grains and fiber

prove to much for a fragile frame

Accustomed to the sanctuary of milky

Half-truths.

O to be satisfied…

Memories of famished and

Parched yesterdays bubble,

Boiling to the surface of a

Wheat grass tonic.

Adding hyssop and tomato paste,

The iron wool of a wooden cross

Scrapes skin from wrinkled fingers.

But o’ to be satisfied…

Somewhere in the pasture of purification,

Peace lies, waiting to be uncovered.

Somewhere beneath the layered dirt,

True love’s letter gazes back with

Unadulterated certainty.

As tender hands fold gingerly

Cupping a brittle assurance,

The hope of finding celestial courts

Burns anew as living water whispers

Confidence to cracked and splintered lips.

But oh gaze on you with rehabilitated eyes

For then I will be satisfied.

Trusting God with your Lifestyle

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised… But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.”
Heb. 10:35-36,39

A common misconception with the Christian Walk is that it is as easy as it looks. Often as Christians we look at the lives of people who aren’t living for God and compare their season with our current struggle. And more often than not when we do so, our lives seem to be getting the short end of the stick. We give our lives over to God and live according to his statues only to face trial after trial and suffering after suffering.

First and foremost, the root of comparison is pride. We believe that we are not getting what we deserve and that our hard work is going unrewarded. But what do we deserve? Truly the Bible states that the wages of sin is death but that eternal life is a gift from God. That being said, we don’t deserve any gift from God but death. Yet and still he is gracious enough to grant us life in spite of our constant tendency to value the things of this world over the things of God.

Second, and perhaps most importantly, we are forgetting God’s word. While some of the suffering we go through we put on ourselves (a fact that should never be overlooked), the Bible states that we must know Christ in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings (Philippians 3:10). What does that mean? It means that we get closer to God and understand the character and power of God to bring us out of hopeless situations by walking through trials that seem hopeless. Many times in our lives trials are just a means of bringing us closer to God and helps us develop an understanding of who he truly is and what he wants to be to us.

God wants to be the love of your life, your source of happiness, and the reason that you live. He wants to be your first thought in the morning and the reason that you break out in constant song. Most importantly, God wants to be your friend. Many times we blindly let things fill in the places where God belongs and when that happens he is gracious enough to remove them. As he peels the scales off of our eyes, we experience immense amounts of pain as our eyes try to open up to the new brightness of his light. But God does this so that we can truly be fulfilled and experience a newness in him. And know that as you continue along the path of righteousness, God has promised to honor your trust in him.