The Art of God

"Yet you, Lord are our Father.  We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand."  Isaiah 64:8 (NIV)

I received a rare blessing today.  I am travelling on business to Charlotte, North Carolina.  I've never been here before and since I got in a few hours early, I thought I would select one "tourist" spot to visit.  There were many to chose from, but today I headed to the Mint Museum (pictured above).  I'm not sure why the GPS had this address plugged in.  I'm not a huge museum person.   I can't remember the last time I was in a museum.

I will walk through a museum, but I've rarely been able to truly appreciate the art.  I admire those individuals who can look at art and it inspires them - I've never been drawn to art that way.  Yet, today for some reason, my heart took me to the Mint Museum.  My experience was dramatically different.  I truly believe God wanted me to see something I hadn't seen before.

As I viewed the beautiful sculptures and paintings, the craft and design work, my eyes were drawn to the stories printed beside the art.  I read about these artists.  Some artists were from the 1800's.  Some were more recent.  Yet, each artist had a story - a reason to capture the world as they saw it.  All of the sudden, the art had meaning.  I found a new beauty in the art that I had not seen before.  As I walked through the rooms, so silent and quiet, it brought my heart to my Lord and the wonderful passage for today.

Just as the artists I read about today had a story to tell with their art, so our Lord has a story to tell through us.  He is the artist, we are His canvas.  He created us with His hands to be able to tell a story - HIS story.  Through our lives, He has worked us, through the joys and tribulations, to create a masterpiece - HIS masterpiece.  Imagine - being God's masterpiece.  The more I thought about this, the greater my heart was drawn to God.  I owe it to God to be the best piece of art I can be. 

If my life tells His story, then I want to ensure it is a great story.  I want to be the best piece of art I can be - so that He, the artist, is glorified.  That means making good choices, living in God's light - the artist's light.  It means reflecting His greatness to those who view me.  It means I need to work on becoming His masterpiece.  That may seem like a tall order.  Yet, there is GREAT news with this tall order - He will be there with us, to guide us, to help us, and to encourage us.  There is no better artist than our Lord.  Will you join me in becoming a great masterpiece?  

"Dearest God, I ask your help as I try to be the masterpiece that you have created.  As the artist, you have a vision of what I should be to the world.  I ask your help in making that possible.  Help me to reflect the art that you want the world to see.  May your grace and mercy help me to achieve this.  In your artist's name I pray, Amen."