Beauty For Ashes

"Straight up?" "Yes straight up - tell me straight up..."

"Ok, it's like this: Christians aren't perfect."

I see a luna moth, attracted to the light, fluttering, flying up and down, trying to reach the light. She's tired and frustrated. Could it be she's not trying hard enough?

Luna is tethered. She is tethered to a stake pounded deep within the earth. It's a nuisance and the rope is thick and strong...

As an artist, I tend to think in visuals. The already transformed luna moth, is me. The light is Christ. The stake is my past and the rope...well, the rope is me not trusting in the Lord.

Sometimes I wonder who's will is stronger? My will not to trust God, or His Will? Well, it's not a matter of the strength of our wills because we all know the ONE who created us, His Will, will be done. He can very easily change the situation, or take the situation away...but He doesn't. He waits patiently, a light, shining, waiting for that one day, when we will untie that rope.

I was asked to lead worship at the Calvary Chapel's women's luncheon and one of the songs I chose was called Beauty for Ashes (Shane and Shane). The song is based on Isaiah 61:3 “...and provide for those who grieve in Zion--to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.”

I felt as thought there could be others beside myself struggling with "holding on" to what was, and in doing so, not completely trusting in God. As Christians, we don't like to admit that we can struggle with trust. When we are in Christ, we are new creatures, so why would we have a hard time trusting in the One who gives us this new life? 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Is it the simple fact that we don't see the meaning of His words as they truly, deeply mean? Do we really understand that we are new creatures? Do we really understand that He replaces the ashes of our mourning with beauty? With Him?

Instead we can be stagnant, stuck, tethered to a past life of sin. We may be ashamed of our past to the point that we actually deny the freedom that Christ provides! When we allow ourselves to be tethered to the past, we are not allowing Christ to change us. We are making a choice not to trust in Him.

So He waits patiently for us to come to Him, so that He may replace the ashes (no more mourning) and become our beauty. He is our Great Physician and our Counselor. He heals - and will make us free if we just untie that rope.

Fast forward - a new visual - this time no luna but a "heart tethered to the Truth." I heard these very words on a Christian radio pod cast this past week. It's no coincidence that the very word tethered was used giving me this new visual. So what is the Truth? The Truth is Christ and He makes us free. John 8:32 “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Teed Commentary: If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, you are already living today in a spiritual “Year of Jubilee.” You have been set free from bondage; your spiritual debt to the Lord has been paid; you are living in “the acceptable year of the Lord.” Instead of the ashes of mourning, you have a crown on your head; for He has made you a king (Revelation 1:6). You have been anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit, and you wear a garment of righteousness (Isaiah 61:3, 10).

God promises restoration. When we trust in Him we give Him glory. We no longer rely on ourselves but Him and a renewal will follow. Praise be to God who showers new mercies each day upon the children who often refuse to take His hand. He restores them so that they may fulfill their purpose to bear witness to the One that frees the captive.The One who saves.

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Lyrics for Beauty for Ashes

Shane & Shane

(Click here to listen)

beauty for ashes

a garment of praise for my heaviness

beauty for ashes

take this heart of stone and make it Yours, Yours

i delight myself in the Richest of Fair

trading all that i've had for all that is better

a garment of praise for my heaviness

You are the greatest taste

You're the richest of fair

visual writing - beginnings of transformed.luna

new art. in progress.

home.

home consists of:

found deer mirror from 70's?

maps of new york and indiana

acrylic paint

deer antlers

Christmas gift wrap

gold foil

key

the house in this painting represents the home i lived in as a child - i lived there through two years of college and then i left for two.5 more years of college somewhere else. i did come home once. to be with my father after he and my mother separated. i left college to live with him. i had graduated my major but was seeking a minor at the time. i realized i was supposed to move home - it wasn't a coincidence you see soon after i moved back my father had an episode with a bleeding ulcer and almost died. his bedroom was upstairs with no phone. he would of had to go all the way to kitchen in order to reach it. he lost so much blood that i feel he couldn't have made it - even to crawl to the kitchen would still leave him having to reach for the phone mounted high on the wall.

some of my memories of home are living on the side of a highway - 55 mph - but no one drove 55 - it was typically faster. we had cow crossing signs and snowmobile crossing signs...my friends and i would sit on the guard rails on the side of the road and wave to cars. we would ride our bikes and meet each other to sneek a cigarette then ride back home. the nights were pitch black and the stars were bright.

we had a big red glass lamp that hung in our dining room with damask red velvet wall paper. it hung over our ping pong table that doubled as a huge family gathering table.

there is a poem somewhere.

home.

bright, pink, blush.

Beauty for Ashes - Revisited.

How can we listen if we are continually talking?

when a heart becomes a strawberry.

Fruit of the Spirit.

ashen remains

A week past of seeing how simply easy to lose years of material gain - what some may deem as part of themselves - only to be gifted life again by seeing another sunrise and sunset. To be blessed with hot sticky weather, dirty clothing, smelly motel room, chicken salad. Another breath - another kidney dialysis - a bowel movement - a drink of cold water - another day. Short snippets of smiles.

The cuckoo clock is blackened - the hands melted - has time stopped? Just long enough to get out of the burning wooden shelter called a home.

Laughter in the alley as flames reach toward heaven. A documentary of a man who lost his memory. Not memories in a house fire but memories from his mind. A blink of an eye and they return, another blink and they are gone.

And now the ashen remains are just that - memories - that can be sifted through using hands of flesh, blood and bone. Praise God.

Quenched thirst and drowned fires by rivers of Living Water.

heart of worship when creating art

This is a fantastic quote from a site I came upon.

written by Sara: "Art speaks in a loud, strident voice – boldly expressing opinions held fiercely by their creators. Art shouts from walls of galleries, as the outpouring of personal tastes, opinions and philosophies of the artists."

The link:

http://www.christian-artist-resource.com/heart-of-worship.html

I created artwork for years with the notion that the viewer was the story teller. Each person viewing the piece would incorporate their story into it. I offered up no explanation nor wanted to force my view onto said viewer. I discovered that was wrong. I don't believe in postmodernism and that is what I was preaching. Who knew? I certainly did not.

The painter has something to say and it is usually specific. Just like our Creator who created heaven and earth has something to say - something beautiful. View the grand oak tree reaching to the sky worshipping it's Creator with outstretched arms! Green leaves budding in the spring, coming to life - a new creation in the magnificent sun. Can anyone look at the oak tree and have their own interpretation of the oak tree's purpose? I suppose, but what was the intention of the Master Artist? What was God's intention when He made that oak tree? What other interpretation could there be than to worship and praise Him?

"Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad, let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the Lord." (Psalm 96:11-13)

I am learning how to create in a different way. The past three years in particular I have learned that I can worship God in creating artwork. The art is my song. Sometimes I forget this however and I get an idea and create while excluding Him. I look elsewhere for inspiration. I don't pray. Sara in her post says to beware of this. Such a wise note of caution.

So back to the quote that started this post. I love the visual of art shouting from gallery walls.

The creation SHOUTS from earth, as the outpouring of the intentions of the Master Creator. The Ultimate Artist - God.

Thank God for the reminder and this new blog of encouragement.

joy and sorrow continued...

What does God say of Joy and Sorrow?

Many suffer and fall away from the Lord due to a false premise of thinking that they will have no tribulations when they come to Christ. If they have enough faith they will be healed or will have "the favor". I am saddened by this type of thinking.

The bible speaks of tribulations as a way to glorify God. Through trials we stand in faith and love to the One who created us. We learn of dying to self, becoming selfless - like Christ who died for us. He gave up all things for us. That is selfless. If we are continually seeking our own gratification; what we can get out of life and question why bad things happen to us, then perhaps it is time to read the bible a bit more carefully.

Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls -- Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Habakkuk 3:17-18

The trials in life allow us to reach out to God. They are meant to bring us to our knees. They are to edify, to teach, to show us that we are in need of our Creator. He created us and He saved us. How do we repay that? By crying and whining about how hard we have it? If we lose an arm do we not have another?

Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Psalm 51:8

If we lose both arms do we not have a leg? If we lose everything - our purity, our innocence, our voice, our sight, our family, our spouse - do we not still have our heart?

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart -- These, O God, You will not despise. Psalm 51:17

It is awesome to think that a Creator would allow us to go through the pain and hurts of life in order to break our hearts so that we may see His sovereignty, His holiness, His love.

written by Paul while bound in chains:

But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Philipians 1:12-14

The spiritual life is bigger - more important to God than the physical. He deals with our hearts (I see a continuing theme here). What are our intentions? Where does our faith, loyalty and love reside?

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Psalm 126:5