Co -creating

i am so grateful that now, at this ripe age of mid-life, i have the opportunity to discover the wonderful gift of the art form of painting.

Being such a 'perfectionist' i do sometimes get caught up with too many details when i try to catch a scene. And that ruins the fluidity and transparency of the watercolor medium. But most times i just try to create something that gives rise to the ambiance of the scene. It has been said that beauty is a wonderful way of entering into the mystery of God and i firmly believe that it is.

i appreciate now that everyday, even every hour, the sky looks different. In order to paint, i have come to notice the shapes of clouds, the rays of light shining through and the shades of blue and grey that changes by the hour. i've also noticed that every tree, apart from just being 'green' comes in different hues and tones. Pools of water are no longer the same, for I notice the reflection of the skies and the trees in the water, as i wonder how i might capture that in a painting.

Nothing is to be taken for granted when it comes from the hand of the Creator. He must have felt so much joy in creating every living thing, every plant and creature, and to crown it all, humankind. In creating my small pieces of art, i suppose what i feel is some of God's joy and delight as a co-creator of beauty (however small my part). He must have had so much delight in splashing colors around, first this green, then yellow, this shape and that, all the while desiring to share, in a way understandable to his creatures who live in time and space, the love that comes forth from the community of the Trinity. And God's creating work did not stop with the account in the first book of the Bible. He is every present now, constantly sustaining, and even continuing to create, to redeem his (for now marred) creation that will one day be brought to fullness in Christ.

Apart from art, humans are called to co-create in many unique ways. Each one, when the time is right, finds his or her own way of hearing and sharing God's creative heartbeat.