| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “How to inhabit time” Our Bible verse for today: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) Our thought for today: “Your life is a work of art.” Douglas Beyer wrote multiple Christian books about how to live the Christian life well. One of them was “Parables for Christian Living”. In it he taught a fascinating lesson about the nature and quality of our lives, which should cause us to seriously reflect on how we think about our lives. His observation is also directly relevant to our topic of slowing down a bit so we can savor and enjoy the individual moments of life. It’s a lengthy passage but I want to quote it in full: “One of the differences between great art and mediocre art is that with great art you can never get all that is there. A comic strip can be enjoyed and discarded with the Sunday newspaper, but the Mona Lisa can be hung on the wall and enjoyed for a lifetime. You can never get all that is there. A television soap opera can be quickly comprehended and soon forgotten, but a Shakespearean drama can be seen again and again, with each new viewing communicating fresh ideas and perspectives. You can never get all that is there. The parables of Jesus are like great art. They express a profound simplicity. The familiar stories yield new vistas of thought each time they are explored. But you can never get all that is there. The parable of the prodigal son is one of the best-known stores of all time. Read it again, and see what you missed the last time. Beyer’s point illustrates the difference in the richness and depth between a great work of art and a comic strip, or between a silly and superficial story like a soap opera and something profound like a parable of Jesus. His point can also be applied to the Christian life. Is your life like a comic strip, or a great work of art? Do you think of it as an insignificant drama or is it a rich and meaningful story? In Ephesians 2:10 Paul describes you and your life as a masterpiece created by God. It’s a deep and rich and beautiful and mysterious and intricate story with many threads which develops over a lifetime. I hope you do see yourself and your life in those terms, because that is what God has created you to be – His masterpiece! I encourage you to view your life as a great work of art. Gaze at it long and thoughtfully. Appreciate the richness of it. Don’t rush past each moment barely giving it a glance. Treat it like the masterpiece it is. Appreciate it. Enjoy it. Savor it. God bless, Pastor Jim |
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