Pivotal Moments

I remember an important rule in art class which is this: if you are drawing an object, ensure that you draw what you see, not what you think it should be.

Inexperienced artists will always place the eyes 1/3 third of the way down from the top of the head, while an experienced artist will recognize that although it goes against everything he feels it should be, he has studied that face long enough to know that the eyes are somewhere at mid point. The nose is longer than he'd like it to be, and the mouth is much lower than he expected it would be. Although the model is smiling there's no upward curve to her lips, but rather a line that rises and dips accross the pink tone of her skin. Her cheekbones gracefully mark the side of her face but remain different one from the other. And her eyes are far darker than one would expect, with a subtle glow reflecting the same light that caused a shadow to fall on her neck.

Look at the two sketches in comparison at the end of the class and you'll see that one is a true reflection of the model, while the other is simply a lifeless graven image without dimension, depth or character, drawn according to the image one thought it should be. One holds beauty and life while the other does not.

Stressful moments and times of unease are pivitol points in our lives that cause us, like artists, to either choose the true image of God or rationalize why that image of God should be changed. What we're left with is either a deeper relationship in a life that reflects the image of the Almighty God Who is and Was and Will be, or we begin to create a golden calf to be worshipped according to our own image of God.

It's important for me to not only study the true image of God, but to trust it enough to leave it alone rather than trying to change it into something I think it should be. To understand the difference that one holds beauty and life while the other does not.

"Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before... either into a creature that is in harmony with God, ...or into one that is in a state of war with God. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other."
~ C.S. Lewis ~
Mere Christianity

Visit Christine at Fruit in Season who is our host for "In 'Other' Words" this week. And if you'd like to play too, you can write a post based on this quote by C.S. Lewis, then leave your link over at Christine's blog.