Something Beautiful

I like to paint. When I say 'like', I really mean to enjoy not necessarily to be skilled at. ;)

When I have time, I watercolor. The trouble with watercolor is that, unlike drawing (another favorite of mine) it is nearly impossible to stop in the middle. Therefore, I rarely have that hazy concept of "time" to paint.

Last night, I had the time. I painted some pansies. Ah, pansies. Happy. :)

When I was done, they looked mostly like pansies, which is good, but I stared down at my little work-of-art and thought, "Something beautiful".

It's funny that I thought that because the painting itself wasn't especially beautiful. It was actually noticeably ordinary. But I wasn't really thinking of the picture. In a sec, I'll explain why.

When you hear the word "Art" what do you think? Easy: painting, dancing, theatre, sculpture, ect. All true. But I think that there are a lot more forms of art.

The dictionary definition of art is "the creation of beautiful things". (by the way, that's one of the best dictionary definitions I've ever read!)

So what counts as beautiful? I suppose that's kind of a matter of opinion, much like art itself. The real question is where beauty comes from. 1st Peter 3:4 says one's beauty should be "the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit”.

Art is an emotional thing. It’s taking your heart and pouring its contents on something you love.

That kind of art shows up in countless forms. You can tell a lot about a person by their “art”.

The art of talking with friends.

The art of planting flowers.

The art of reading out loud.

The art of being with children. (a favorite of mine)

The art of studying.

The art of having energy.

The art of listening.

Many of these just sound like “skills”. But there’s a big difference.

Dancing is a skill. It’s not really art unless you honestly love it.

Singing is a skill. But when you sing about something close to your heart, then it’s an art.

Washing the car is a skill. It becomes an art when you actually enjoy it!

Skills are great. They’re handy, fun, God-given things. But art… I believe art is a manifestation of God’s supernatural love for us. He gave us each the desire to create because we are created in His image. We naturally want to see the things in our hearts put forward physically.

My little pansy-picture wasn’t amazing to look at. What was amazing was the feeling of taking the love of painting that God placed in me, and pouring it on paper.

It’s the same feeling I get when I take my love for my little sister and use it to give her a hug. Or when I take my desire to see something be tidy, and clean the refrigerator with it.

It doesn’t have to be a great painting or a painting at all. It doesn’t have to be dancing (I, for one, am a bad dancer). It doesn’t have to be something spectacular.

Just something beautiful.

In Christ,

Katy