I Am Art/ I Am Artist

Art has been on my mind for the past couple of weeks. Beauty in the natural world has always stood out to me. For a while there, I think I lost sight of it, but now that spring is back and the year is coming to a close, a bit of perspective's coming back to me.

It's embarrassing to try to put what I've been thinking into words, but it's like I have this heightened sensitivity to beauty around me. In the weirdest sense. For instance, last night I could see something special in the night sky, just above the city lights and just below where the stars came into view. It was as if there was something waiting for me beyond the horizon. Or take the feeling of a cool breeze on a warm spring day. It makes me feel as if someone's calling to me from far away. So I think I'm probably going a little insane. Blame it on Emmaus.

Above: Me, as art.

But lo! Last night I was relating all this to my dear friend Connie (with less insanity, I hope), and even this morning she pointed out these words to me:

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims His handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard."

The more I think about it, the less insane it seems that the night sky and the winds of spring might be talking to me. God has created beauty all around us, and beauty speaks.

Only a few years back, I was asking the question "what is art?" Yet now I find myself asking, "What isn't art?" It seems like everything God has made has something to say. What's more, He imparted even to us the ability to create, and it seems to me that everything we create has something to say, even if it exists for practical purposes.

Even what we create seems to glorify God in that it cannot be built outside what He has created. For instance, we cannot build a skyscraper apart from physics. Music is another good example. God created the notes and let's us discover the chords. Though we are allowed the creativity, God has already created all the possibilities of sounds to be played.

But the fact remains that we live in a world of corruption. Natural disaster, war, hate, everything gives you cancer. So then it is the artist's job to pull light and beauty out of darkness and despair. In this, he glorifies God.

Even to the unbeliever can the artist give hope, just in reminding him that there is beauty. I speak not only of the Christian artist, but also the secular. Creating beauty, they glorify. Some may even blaspheme in their work, but I think that the fact that they are searching for beauty deserves some merit.

Even Satan, who tries to distract us from the beauty of Yahweh, is being used to bring glory to Yahweh. Even in that contrast is beauty.