The premise of this article was to provide a portrait of God and all the many facets of who He is. I wanted to begin with God: the Creator and then go on to explore the various aspects of his being. "The Artist, Formally known as God", was written in 2003 after I'd gone on a self-exploration trip through Virginia the weekend hurricane Isabel trapped me there on a consulting gig. I didn't change my itinerary in time and so after the storm passed, I was there that weekend alone- no coworkers, just me, the hotel, and my complimentary bottled water because the hotel water was undrinkable.
That weekend I'd gone on a dinner cruise up the Potomac, a winery, the Virginia Museum of Art, and the Grand Caverns all by myself...Well, me and the Hertz GPS system. It was an incredible experience. I was so inspired by the beauty of that Fall, driving through Virginia, and seeing the beauty of the caverns that formed without even the benefit of light to see them. It made me wonder in awe about the beauty and complexity of God's creativity. So although I had many more points in my outline, here's most of it:
The Artist, Formally Known as God
I was talking with a friend of mine last night and sharing with her my studies
and thoughts and we just talked about the Lord and everything. She'd also shared how she'd done a study on the misconception of human will which was very interesting. But anyway, God shared with me some wonderful insights concerning His character and His artistic side and I was thinking about doing a series called 'A Portrait of God' and the first article will be 'The Artist, formally known as God'.
It will highlight God the Creator and then other articles will highlight the different aspects and characteristics of God. Anyway it was a very intimate moment for me talking with God last night and just experiencing Him and understanding my relationship with Him not only as His daughter but as His creation. It was very special.
It's like God has given me permission to draw Him. I said, God, you have such an interesting face, may I draw you? And He said sure, and He sits there smiling and just lets me. So I will use His Holy Bible, my love for Him, His love for me, and when I'm done, I want to share it
with everyone so they can see my portrait of God.
It touches my core being as an artist- God is an artist. And the beginning of everything that we know of God is that He created. I think that is ultimately the true beginning of understanding God.
The first way even God chose to introduce Himself to us through His Word is as the Creator
The reason I got the idea of starting with God the artist is because of all the things God Himself could have started His Word to say or share with us about His character and the world, and He chose to show Himself to us as the creator first- 'In the beginning, God created...' It's like the bible is His autobiography. And as an artist myself, He relates so many things to me about Himself on that level.
So I can understand why He waited until the last day of creation to make man. It was probably just so He wouldn't have someone standing over His shoulder saying, "What's that supposed to be?" "That doesn't look right" "Add more blue" etc... Any artist will tell you, they can't STAND for anyone to see what they've done until they're finished. It's primarily because we don't want any comments on what we're trying to make and I think God felt and still feels the same way. It's
annoying. It doesn't have to make sense to anyone but the artist because there's something special HE'S trying to express; and to fuss and try to tell the Artist what He should be making just because He made such and such before or because of what WE think a tree should look like is ANNOYING. Wait until He's done. Wait until He's done with that situation, that problem, that prayer. It will look much better fully conceived.
Living Art
He had a conception in His utmost being that He wanted to get out- in the universe, in our lives, in our relationships, in anything. And when you get that inspiration and you feel this need to get it out of you, you just work until you've exhausted that itch. I would've rested too after expressing so much of myself!
Our relationships and our lives and our everything are masterpieces each expressing a different work of the Artist, except instead of hanging on a wall, we live and breathe and move on to perform other masterpieces. And yes, He's interested in what we think of His creation. He asks us, ‘What do you get out of what I've created here?... hmm, that's very interesting!’. But ultimately, He wants His creation to be art- what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.
...
This article reminds me of how much I enjoy getting to know God. I look forward to one day finishing the portrait.
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