Thought for The Day - You See it as an Entertainment

The Turn 9 x 12 Pastels

Of a feather 18 x 24 Pastels

I'm Listening 24 x 36 Oil painting

You watch a dancer, you hear a singer, a musician strumming a guitar and all is well. But they move acrobatically, turn a phrase or sing a note in a unique or funny way, play notes on the guitar from the neck and you clap in response. And somewhere along this path, the message gets distorted. Both audience and "messenger" alike are caught up in the miraculous and the amazing and like a child clamoring for more fun, the original intent can be lost.

We don't pay money for a message or to be told something true but unflattering about ourselves. And yet an artist's true purpose is to hold the mirror up to the world and say "see, this is who you truly are." At times, it is done by talking about themselves, their desires and wants and their loss. Sometimes it is a true message about the state of the world, the human condition. And sometimes, it's a message about the BIG picture of life and how it twists and turns. But words, body movement, the notes of a song are all messages.

You see pretty colors, I see a divine rendering, declaring the changes in the state of conscious. You see "abstract" or "scribbles." I see how we "flock" to those who are like us, but we never really find our mirror image. You see a blue orb surrounded by other blue lines; I see the mouth of someone speaking and respond "I'm listening..."

You "might want" entertainment, but when artists listen to the voice of God you get...

Thought for The Day - Searching to Find...

Looking up, focusing on nothing in particular, glancing over my left shoulder, watching the fish swim and play and the orange, blue, red and white of the painting sitting on the easel...I absorb it, listen to it and wait for an answer. The question, unspoken, hangs in the air...how will my arm extend to the world today? A candle in hand, a light shone on the common place, bringing light to details we know, but ignore.

There are many details, messages and truths to know. I'm shining the spotlight on the ugly as well refined beauty. Innocence and joy, love and faith. But there's always another side to all of this and especially from a human perspective.

Thought for The Day - Discovery

After the Dance 18 x 24 mixed media

We can never know all there is to know and yet it behooves us to know all we can...

Years ago, I dated a young lady who, before I met her, seemed like she would be a complete mystery. Being shy myself and unwilling to face rejection, I was hesitant, to say the least to approach her. I allowed her sophisticated persona to dazzle me. But in spite of all the barriers, I went for it, asked her out or at least offered her ride home from church. We talked on the way to her home and in little or no time, we were getting to know one another. For a few weeks, I would give her a ride from Bible study and even picked her up a few times and in the brief period we dated, I got to know a lot of facts about her life. I found out she wasn't as aloof and sophisticated as I thought. She was no slouch, had a good mind, but she was down-to-earth and very open to talk.

At some point, in one of our long conversations, I said to her: "you're telling all of these details about you, but I still feel like there's much more you're not telling me." Like so many people I talk with, I find it's easy to get the "facts" of our lives out on the table, but we never get to the heart of who we are. We can tell about "this", reveal a little of "that" ("except, I won't tell you about the heartache I suffered as a result of _____ and how that still haunts me at this very moment.") but it amounts to "surface details." I get it, I understand; I'm not an open book, though I hope through this format, a great deal of what I think about and how I feel is revealed. Funny: it just hit me this media is an opportunity to unveil the "secret life of Eddie."

Here's a couple more interesting truths I've discovered:

• For whatever reason, some people tell a great many "half-truths" about themselves, even when they tell you their being candid, open and honest. If you dig "around" what is said, you find there's far more to the story. It always leaves me wondering why the "whole truth" wasn't told. In sharing what is uttered, I wonder about what "you" want me to know and why it's necessary to withhold what is...
• The walls we erect and the parts of us we share are all one big picture. When we ignore or highlight only one part, the damage, pain and hurt we hide does not get healed. And like our bodies, these wonderful regenerative vessels we inhabit, what could be healing, when it is 'misapplied' (or should I say "when healing is refused") we create a place where hurt spreads like a cancer.

I leave you with this quote, apply it liberally to you life: "Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part, You will make me to know wisdom." Psalms 51:6 (NKJV)

Open Clarity and Clearer Channels

Clear Channel ~ in process...

What I want and what I need. From a Christian or ‘religious’ perspective, we are often taught to ignore our wants and focus on our needs. We are taught  that we should ensure we focus on our needs and somehow, our wants will either go away or maybe, someday, we’ll get our wants met. “What do you want?” Has that question ever been asked of you? Especially where it’s asked with such emphasis, you have to search your soul and respond with that. Years ago, my previous pastor said he would visit people in the hospital and he would ask the same question of those lying in bed. They would start out: “well, I won’t God to bless me; make me a good person.” And he would stop them, mid-sentence and ask them more emphatically: “WHAT DO YOU WANT?” Of course, now he has their attention and they would say, “I want to get out of this hospital! I want to get well!”

At the moment it doesn’t matter the “whys” and “wherefores” of our misdirected wants; there are times one needs to cry out from the soul “Rescue me!” without worrying about if you’re saying it right or if help might come. Clarity says, in that moment THERE IS AN ANSWER – AND I NEED IT NOW!

The flip side of our extreme moments of clarity is that there is a response. So often, it seems we aren’t heard – I know I’m not the only one who has asked for a SOMETHING and no genie appeared granting my wish. But I also know I’m not the only one, who having cried out from that secret place in one’s soul and received a response of peace and brevity ~ a gentle and quick response that defies the mind to define. A clear channel makes moments into hours and hours into days. Give it thought as you go on your way. Your journey isn’t wasted; take each step and allow the peace to be your companion. Amen.

A Response

I've been listening;  I'm learning to flex muscles rarely used unless it's an emergency. You know how it is when you pray when danger is present and your life depends on help greater than ourselves. But then, we exercise our "send" muscle. In those times we only listen when we need a quick answer and a speedy solution. But I'm exercising listen muscles sans "emergency."

It's a different way to wait and calls for quiet beyond sitting solitary in a room lights dulled. It's pushing aside the immediate cries of the heart. You know "I NEED a job" or "I need money for these bills." Questions are asked differently in this quiet, questions like "I'm here for a reason..." "exercising my talents in this way is satisfying..."

Certainly money would be great but there are treasures to be had that exceed 7 or 8 digits proceeded by a $. I'm waiting for a response that changes the very flavor of life, a response that reorders parts of the whole. 

The attached image is in process, appropriately titled: "A Response." The background is red, though my point-and-shoot camera doesn't capture the depth of the red. I'm adding detail, slowly, in a way I have not done, previously. I see a semblance of a flower blooming, opening up, as though Spring and Light surrounded it. But I'm Listening as well, patiently moving pass interruptions and shallow wants and needs. There are words that are stated, seemingly falling on deaf ears. But the heart hears quite plainly and when the time is right all is arranged in a way evident to all.