Questions from a Finger Painter

Creativity has fascinated me since I was a little girl. I never had much success creating a piece of art beyond finger painting, but I so badly wanted to know what the world looked like to an artist. I was convinced it looked different. If I thought the world was beautiful, the world through an artist's eyes must be indescribable! Were colors more vibrant in their eyes? Did they see angles I missed? Did they feel more deeply than I did? Was every artist a heartbroken one? From where did this passion come, and where could I get it?

How did they do it? How did they start with a blank canvas and paint that? How did they put those notes together when they sat at the piano? How did they think of such a brilliant screenplay, or such an unusual color scheme? I wanted to know!!

I've been privileged to become close friends with several artists or otherwise creative people, and I was right in many ways. They do see the world beautifully. Many of them see a raw, real place, and they are uninhibited with how they live in it and make it their home. They have an ability to see beauty in pain and the courage to express life's highest and lowest moments.

This painting was done by a dear friend of mine, who painted it to symbolize something we've talked about many times: there are people that smell of the sea. It's a look in their eyes or something in their stride that tells us they've been to the edge of the world and back (literally or figuratively), spent time wrestling through difficult things and have reached a place where they're comfortable being their real, authentic person. We want to be those people.

Since my eyes were opened to who Jesus Christ really is, I see creativity in a whole new light. The luster of a consumer lifestyle is swallowed by the astounding beauty and hope in this world, followed by even greater beauty and hope in the next. This is where I find the motivation and courage to create something myself, and to grow an always deepening appreciation for art and creativity.