a comfortable, encapsulating gray. a melodious sound strumming anxiety away. cessation.
within me, this is rain. it allures me into its rest, its rejuvenation.
while i sit in my softly illuminated room, surrounded by the rain, i think about rest.
a few days ago, an artist and professor came to my modern art class. in talking about art, light, and introspection she made some statements that i have been tracking with this past semester. as i prepare to enter the invented “real-world” i continue to try and change my thinking.
“we are very much into the future or the past, we are hardly ever present.”
i do this. and i miss out. and i struggle to be content. even upon reaching that “future” that i so longed for.
let us just be.
she then said (something like this): “we are so rational that we experience a loss of beauty. children love beauty best because they aren’t yet indoctrinated. they don’t have expectations. they do not think ‘this is what i must do next. get degree, get job, have family, etc'”
children see and understand and imagine like most of us never do. they do not worry about every minute they spend. they do not believe that playing with their friends or exploring in the dirt is a waste of time.
the tiny refractions of light from glass is beautiful. bedtime is lame because it means an end to the fun, the enjoyment of life.
again, i propose that our minutes not be filled with the “more important” paper-pushing work. something that has somehow become valued above all else. that we cease to attempt the rational and begin to pursue the imaginative. that we take time to be.
i do not challenge ‘work’ in and of itself. i challenge a life dedicated and wholly dependent on that which is intended only as a means of survival. that which is temporal. i challenge false notions of ‘productivity.’ i challenge those who consider it above themselves to stop, to be silent, to have a day of sabbath.
i ask that we live.
(i’m still trying to figure out how to capture a painting with a camera and display it on the internet.)
if you dont have a bad anus support light, or blast on ur camera, just use sunlight… if its on normal cotton canvas – Austin Perry O’Neal the First
As the mother of a 2.5 year old those comments about children are so true. Nadia could play in the dirt in the yard or pebbles at a playground for hours and think it was the best day EVER.
To her it’s a joy to just be with her mom and dad “playing”. Today she messed with Mr. Potato head for like an hour. Mike called it Mr. Picaso Head at the end. She loved it and it’s an age old toy that brought her delight.
Good stuff.
Like with most things in life, balance and moderation are usually the best solution. We can have a life of contentment…trusting in a sovereign God who loves us, without “worrying” about what the future will or should hold.
Those who are always thinking about their next goal or plan to the exclusion of all else miss all that is around them and appreciate nothing that they have been given. But those who spend all their time “living in the now” typically do little of great value and go nowhere. They do little with what they have been given, spending it on themselves and fulfilling their own desires. Similar to the first group, they do not appreciate what they have been given, which is the direct result of many other people who had and pursued goals and worked very hard to accomplish them.
The faith of a child is wonderful, and the eyes through which a child sees the world are beautiful. But in this life there does come a time when we must put aside childish things and move on to those things that only an adult can accomplish, with God’s help, for His glory and for the benefit of others.
Pursuing Him for His sake and for the sake of helping others, with contentment, is the best way…at least in my experience.
Oh…and FYI, here’s a link about taking pictures of art: Photographing Art.
I love this post, it resonates with my spirit, as another way this past month that God has been telling me to be still, to practice stillness, solitude, and rest. Thank you.