64 Crayons

It all started with a box of 64 crayons with the sharpener on the back. I've wanted to be an artist ever since that first box. More years later than I care to think about, I read "The Last Lecture" and the rest is history. Even now when I get a whiff of that crayon smell, I instantly find myself back in that place of having a brand new box of crayons and feeling like I was the next best thing to Monet. (Although I didn't know who he was at the time.)

Crayons continue to be my indirect inspiration but now faith and my everyday life have moved to the forefront. Just about anything can be my materials (including used dryer sheets). But I don't use crayons any more. Maybe I should. Just in case you were wondering, no my new camera isn't here yet. I found this great image on the internet. Thank you to whoever took this phenominal picture.

Because I Said So.

They say that inspiration can come from any place in this artistic life. I have to admit however, that so far I am a little surprised at the places that it does come from. This week one of the odd places it came from was an episode of "Nanny 911" off of Netflix. Yes, you read it right . . "Nanny 911". One of the nanny's actually said that it was time for a parent to lay down the law with the kids. She told the parents the kids need to hear them say "you do this because I said so".

Here is my question. . . why is it that I expect that that phrase will be enough to inspire blind obedience from my children, when it isn't enough to inspire me to the same when God in Christ Jesus asks it of me?

When I as a parent say those wonderful (haha) words, I am somehow surprised when my kids look at me and say "not good enough, or look at me like "Are you kidding me?" or "prove to my why I should". I get furious at that answer or look from them. But when I give the same answer to God when God says the same to me . . . somehow I always fail to see the similarites between the two responses..

The more I've thought about this, the more I think that unlike me in my humanity, God has more than earned that blind trust from me. In fact God has proven to me over and over again that I can and should trust, blindly or not. Because I am always the better for it.

So with all of this wonderful inspiration, what does all of this look like on canvas? I'm still waiting for that part of the inspiration. I'll let you know when it shows up.