The Joy of Accomplishing
On Thursday of this week I completed a chainsaw sculpture on a 201 year old tree that had become an 11-foot stump/trunk in front of First Congregational Church of Otsego. The city was going to cut the tree to the ground, but at our request they left a portion of it standing. (Can you imagine that happening in Detroit or even Kalamazoo?) Tim Lane made the vertical cuts, but I did the sculpting and color staining. It was a labor of joy-- thank you, Lord, for the privilege and the ability to accomplish this.
I have done other tree sculptures, but there was something different about this one. I didn't feel that I was doing it for me, as I had the others in our yard on Barton Street. It gave me pause many times to think that this tree was standing when James Madison was the President of the United States, and I was altering -- yet saving it. A line from Joyce Kilmer's poem “Trees,” came to my mind many times. “Poems are made by fools like me, but only God could make a tree.” (In my case was “Sculptures are made by fools like me . . . .”
As much as I loved doing the sculpting, when I finished, a mild euphoria came over me that I don’t remember experiencing before. What is it within the human (my) soul that loves “It is finished” I believe that it is part of the life-dance that God has taken me into.
I love it that at the end of each day of creation, as recorded Genesis, God said, “There was evening and there was morning. . . .” (“This day is finished.”) (I took a picture of my sculpture at the end of each day.) “And God saw that it was good.” That meant more than just a high quality good; it also meant that this part is accomplished! Wow, if God could feel like that, why couldn't / shouldn't one (I,me) created in God’s image do the same? (I’m getting it!)
Now, I have no Illusions about my art; it is not high art. (That is not putting myself down.) But, it is something from the very best that is within me; it is zoe -- the life-dance that God has taken me into. And, I think that God heartily approves of my saying,”It is finished.” meaning much more than “project completed.”
Of course, the greatest utterance of “It is finished.” (Perhaps that is the greatest of all utterances,) came from Jesus on the cross. John said that Jesus came to defeat the works of the devil, and Jesus said he came so that humans would have abundant life-- zoe that is. Because I could achieve neither of these, Jesus did so for me, and I believe in some way that makes me a participant in “It is finished.” at various levels, and I therefore experience resultant joy. I wonder if Paul was thinking something along this line when he wrote Philippians 4:8. “Finally brothers and sisters, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, . . . think about such things.”
My cup runneth over.
I have done other tree sculptures, but there was something different about this one. I didn't feel that I was doing it for me, as I had the others in our yard on Barton Street. It gave me pause many times to think that this tree was standing when James Madison was the President of the United States, and I was altering -- yet saving it. A line from Joyce Kilmer's poem “Trees,” came to my mind many times. “Poems are made by fools like me, but only God could make a tree.” (In my case was “Sculptures are made by fools like me . . . .”
As much as I loved doing the sculpting, when I finished, a mild euphoria came over me that I don’t remember experiencing before. What is it within the human (my) soul that loves “It is finished” I believe that it is part of the life-dance that God has taken me into.
Now, I have no Illusions about my art; it is not high art. (That is not putting myself down.) But, it is something from the very best that is within me; it is zoe -- the life-dance that God has taken me into. And, I think that God heartily approves of my saying,”It is finished.” meaning much more than “project completed.”
Of course, the greatest utterance of “It is finished.” (Perhaps that is the greatest of all utterances,) came from Jesus on the cross. John said that Jesus came to defeat the works of the devil, and Jesus said he came so that humans would have abundant life-- zoe that is. Because I could achieve neither of these, Jesus did so for me, and I believe in some way that makes me a participant in “It is finished.” at various levels, and I therefore experience resultant joy. I wonder if Paul was thinking something along this line when he wrote Philippians 4:8. “Finally brothers and sisters, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, . . . think about such things.”
My cup runneth over.
So true and deeply thought out
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