I have never been much of an artist.  When I took a beginner's drawing class in college, my bottles were pretty uninspiring.  I could just never get on paper what I saw on the table.

Now, 18 years later, I am learning to draw from a whole different approach (Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, Tarcher/Putnam).  Now, the brain is much too complex for me to explain, and there is still much that even the experts don't understand.  But suffice it to say, each half of our brain handles incoming information differently.

The left hemisphere analyzes, counts, marks time, plans step-by-step procedures, verbalizes, and make rational statements based on logic.  Using the right hemisphere, however, we are able to dream, imagine, understand metaphors, create new combinations of ideas, and use intuition; we can see how things exist in space and how parts go together to make up the whole.

Many of us who are not naturally artistic draw from a logical, planned-out mode, and our pictures look flat and lifeless.  Artists who paint and draw from the creative, intuitive right brain, on the other hand, pull you right into their pictures.

It's not so much about how they draw, but how they 'see'.

In Mark 8:17-18, Jesus is questioning the disciples' ability to see beyond the logical, obvious exterior.  "...Do you not yet discern or understand?...Having eyes, do you not see with them..."

If we look at the world around us through earth-bound, analytical vision, it looks pretty flat and bleak.  We see the endless, mindless tasks and cycles in which most people exist.  It can be very dreary, even depressing.

But if we allow the Spirit to bring us in line with His vision - WOW!  What a difference!  Suddenly we see purpose and beauty and life. 

I used to look at the drifts of snow in my flower beds and all I could think of was death; my beautiful flowers were all dead.  But this fall the Spirit opened my eyes:  those flowers aren't dead; they're resting.  They're getting ready to burst forth even bigger in the spring.  And not only that, but they have thrown their seeds all around them to bring up new life.

What do you see?  Are you walking in the reality of heaven, or are you stuck in the realm of humanity?  Just as Jesus heard the cries of a blind man on the road to Jericho (Luke 18:35-43) and restored his sight, so He will hear you.  Just cry out:  "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

 

Amy