FOR HIS ANGER LASTS ONLY A MOMENT,
BUT HIS FAVOR LASTS A LIFETIME;
WEEPING MAY STAY FOR THE NIGHT,
BUT REJOICING COMES IN THE MORNING // MATTHEW 30:5
A book we've given to read while being here in Mexico is called The Artisan Soul by Erwin Raphael. This book contains the most beautifully written definitions of what Erwin believes about the human soul and who God created us to be. He has such an amazing and unique perspective of the world and the people in it, and throughout the book he explores his main belief. We are all artists.
I love how he defines the subject of art and places it into the category of ordinary rather then extraordinary. He believes everyone has a creative ability and not just the certain few who have been 'gifted' with amazing talents. He writes about how humanity needs to set creativity free. He makes it so simple, describing it just like breathing, "Creativity should be as common as breathing. We breathe, therefore we create." He believes that everyone has the gift of creativity. He completely shuts down any opposition if this when he explores the many lies that people believe about God. He includes the lie, that people believe that God commands and humans obey. He describes this as a destructive and distorted view of Gods intention for humanity. In response he writes, "To create is to be human. To create is to fulfil our Devine intention. To create is to reflect the image of God. To create is an act of worship. So, who is an artist? Anyone who has a soul."
This book completely opened up my perspective on life, and also how I view others. Erwin brings meaning and definition into almost every area and also talks about identity which is something Im working on at the moment. He talks about how finding your inner voice only comes after finding the voice of God, "It is only when our inner voice responds to the voice of God that we begin to truly find our own voice."
While we were reading the book we were given a project that we needed to create a final piece for. We were asked to thoroughly read the book and highlight any specific quotes that made an impression on us. There was so many subjects that he wrote about in a completely different way to how I had thought about them before so it was really hard to just focus on one. After reading the book I'll definitely be thinking about everything in life in a much more open and deeper perspective. This is the quote I decided to use as inspiration.
"EVEN THE PAIN, EVEN THE WOUNDS, THE SADNESS WAS REAL, THE BROKENNESS DEEP, THE SCARS MINE. ITS WHO I AM. ITS WHO I'M BECOMING. IT IS WHO WE ARE THAT IS THE MATERIAL FOR OUR GREATEST WORK OF ART " - Erwin Raphael.
This really spoke to me because it taught me that there is so much beauty within brokenness. We associate pain and hurt with ugliness and place into a category that we hide from everyone. Instead of disguising our scars and pain we should be placing it at the forefront of our story, embracing every aspect of our lives, even the less pretty ones. Its all part of who we are and who we're becoming. We should be proud of our wounds, not because it has to be part of our identity, but because God could be using it for our ministry. We grow stronger through pain, and by making our scars visible, we have the chance to teach others the strength as well. Lets be proud of our story.
For my final piece I wanted to show how God places beauty within brokenness. I used the decaying flowers to symbolise the wounds that we gain through life, and even though they're falling apart they still contain the beauty that God created them with. I wanted to include the images of the man from the Ranch because his story contains so much pain, loneliness and rejection but he's lived through that. His smile and innocent expression contains so much love and purity. His strength inspired me, and even though he could haven given up long ago, he's learnt to be proud of his story because he knows it has a happy ending. He's taught me to be proud of mine.
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