I believe that the longer we spend on our journey, the more we come to understand about this world, the purpose behind our journey and yourselves. When we are young, we each have a mental image for our own future that we can close our eyes and visualize. It is a perfect piece of artwork, with a neat frame and each tiny brush stroke or etched detail is crisp and precise. But as we age and add to our experiences and our wisdom, we begin to see that our future is a work in progress that we are responsible for creating, rather than something that we are given or can buy or barter for.
And some of the small bits of this image are not perfect or even close to it. In our youth, we might have struggled to conceal those less than perfect brush strokes, from ourselves and from the world. But wisdom teaches us that those mistakes and missteps were necessary and also very beneficial to our learning process. We look back at those blacked out portions of the canvas of our past and see a lesson learned, insight bestowed and progress rather than meaningless darkness.
And we are also enlightened with the ability to see our true future and to appreciate our current vantage point. Each point has purpose just as each of us does. And on some grand scale, many of these moments are intended to collaborate to create achievements that we may or may not be able to understand or even see. But some moments are very clear in their meaning. They can be reminders to look around and really take in all that we have in our lives, including things as simple as the perfect sunset or the sound of the first birds singing outside your window after a long and brutal winter.
And the closer we get to the pinnacle of our journey, the more clarity we have when seeing the work of art that is our life, our life’s work, and our contributions during our time here. It is not perfect, and it might not even reside in a frame. It could be so free form that a frame would only serve to restrict its beauty rather than to enhance it. And some pieces could look distressed and almost destroyed to the casual observer who has not traveled our path and does not understand the labor and toil that was required to complete that small piece our past. But we see the beauty in the sweat and struggle as well as the lesson that was learned from that rough terrain. We are now true art aficionados.
And if we try to remember that original image that we treasured and nurtured as a younger person, it is difficult to really see it any longer. But we know deep in our hearts that the tiny paint by numbers image that we thought we wanted, pales in comparison to the work of art that we have experienced. The tunnel vision of youthful eyes would have cost us the experiences, joy, love, and satisfaction that was meant to be for ours as we traveled this life’s real journey. And only now, after experiencing the view from the most glorious peaks and the near total darkness from the deepest valleys, can we make a true accounting of all that we have in our world. And it is impossible not to become overwhelmed with gratitude. Each day is an opportunity to take stock in our lives, to recognize our achievements, failures, challenges, and victories and accept both their beauty and their purpose for the work of art that they are and the person that they have helped us to become.
I love this post! Do you mind if I use it as a model to write a poem? Very well done…..
Larry- Please feel free to use this. Thank you so much for the kind words as well. And I would be honored to read your poem and would gladly pass it along as a guest post for others to enjoy if you like. Have a wonderful day!
Larry, I so agree with you and very much look forward to reading your poem inspired by Kathy’s amazing ability to inspire all of us with her very extraordinary way with words. Wonderful!
I will do my best to honor the essence of your words….
Kathy, this absolutely wonderful and inspiring post of yours reminds me of one of my all-time favorite quotes from Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden”: “It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour. If we refused, or rather used up, such paltry information as we get, the oracles would distinctly inform us how this might be done.”
But it’s YOUR post that reminds me of more stories from my own life I still want to write along with more than one essay. And with Larry’s poem, and other readers’ responses whether they choose to share them or not, we see the highest value of art, at least to me, is how it inspires others to express the beauty within themselves. Bravo!!!!!
Beautifully said. Because rich or poor, black or white, where ever we live, we all have problems. Life is struggle for EVERYONE! Opportunities and resources available to us through whatever channel, sometimes lessen certain problems, but life is nothing without problems. I learn that, but problems are there to teach us something. If we learn postive things from our problems, it helps us to do better. While the negative, no so good. But we are the painters of our art we call life, a what we do, is what we paint.. The brush is our brain. The easel is our body. Or choices are the colors we use. What we add to it, is what we will get out of it. We were born a blank easel, we can create a masterpiece, with little or a lot of choices and or colors. Create your own masterpiece of your life, using your own colors.
What an excellent way to describe life. Almost like a diorama. Of course, life must be lived in stages, each stage of which paints the picture a little more thoroughly, with a little more detail. We can never erase what has already been painted, but sometimes we have the opportunity to paint over some areas and to use them to build on. In the end, especially if we live our lives in Christ, the painting will look just as it was intended to, flaws and all. Not perfect, but just right.