Away with Red Overalls...and More!
God has blessed me this morning with a beautiful quiet spot to meditate, focus, write and begin a desperately needed catching up. It has been kind of a rare thing for me just to have a few hours in a row of alone time. Schedules, mine, and I am sure yours too, have a way of filling up and speeding up. Sometimes they even scream at you. My schedule lately has been kind of like my cell phone. My phone has an escalating ring. If I don't hear it at first, it will keep increasing until I must throw it in the river, or pay attention to it.
Now I know that throwing it in the river is not really an option, because I don't live close to a river. And those who need to call me, can be glad about that. I could really be the type of woman that would throw those tangible things that annoy her into the river. My mom and my aunt have told me that one wash day when I was playing under the the clothesline on the riverbank, they looked up and found me running under the sheets in my diaper. I had taken off my red overalls and there they were floating down the river. They said that I hated those red overhauls.! I am sure I did and still would. What a thing to put on a future woman of worth!! Anyway...
O.K. I digress! But I am enjoying a morning where I have thrown my schedule into the river: The river of God! I have been totaling relaxed now for over three hours. Reading, praying, and meditating on the notes I have made in the last month.
I just found a note that I had jotted down while listening to a message. The speaker had shared that Michelangelo had once said that when carving, he simply removed what did not look like a man.
Selah! Think about it for a minute. When I am carving...right...like I ever carve! Well, when I am trying to make something, my concentration is usually upon what I am trying to make. But it seems that he was not concentrating on carving a man, but rather on removing what did not look like a man. He was not striving to produce, but striving to remove what was not productive!
What a life lesson! If we would just start carving away, removing and throwing out that which is not productive for us. (I'm talking more serious than red overalls. here.) We need to have an idea, the vision, or the plan for our lives, and then focus on removing what does not look like it. If we get distracted, we look back to the plan and then again begin taking away what does not resemble the goal we are planning on achieving.
Oh, come on, I know it is not new, but come to think about it, I bet we all have some carving away to do. I challenge you to try this today in just one area: We know that as Christians, we are to be more Christ-like. O.K...so what about you isn't Christ-like? Don't look for only the big chunks. You'll probably find some little chips of impatience, unkindness, or jealousy first. I for one, am taking up carving.
And BTW...if you are trying to make more time, don't look for longer days or more minutes to put in an hour. Just look for what you can cut out of your day that will bring the result of more time. Yes, we are all artists! We simply must begin carving!
Now I know that throwing it in the river is not really an option, because I don't live close to a river. And those who need to call me, can be glad about that. I could really be the type of woman that would throw those tangible things that annoy her into the river. My mom and my aunt have told me that one wash day when I was playing under the the clothesline on the riverbank, they looked up and found me running under the sheets in my diaper. I had taken off my red overalls and there they were floating down the river. They said that I hated those red overhauls.! I am sure I did and still would. What a thing to put on a future woman of worth!! Anyway...
O.K. I digress! But I am enjoying a morning where I have thrown my schedule into the river: The river of God! I have been totaling relaxed now for over three hours. Reading, praying, and meditating on the notes I have made in the last month.
I just found a note that I had jotted down while listening to a message. The speaker had shared that Michelangelo had once said that when carving, he simply removed what did not look like a man.
Selah! Think about it for a minute. When I am carving...right...like I ever carve! Well, when I am trying to make something, my concentration is usually upon what I am trying to make. But it seems that he was not concentrating on carving a man, but rather on removing what did not look like a man. He was not striving to produce, but striving to remove what was not productive!
What a life lesson! If we would just start carving away, removing and throwing out that which is not productive for us. (I'm talking more serious than red overalls. here.) We need to have an idea, the vision, or the plan for our lives, and then focus on removing what does not look like it. If we get distracted, we look back to the plan and then again begin taking away what does not resemble the goal we are planning on achieving.
Oh, come on, I know it is not new, but come to think about it, I bet we all have some carving away to do. I challenge you to try this today in just one area: We know that as Christians, we are to be more Christ-like. O.K...so what about you isn't Christ-like? Don't look for only the big chunks. You'll probably find some little chips of impatience, unkindness, or jealousy first. I for one, am taking up carving.
And BTW...if you are trying to make more time, don't look for longer days or more minutes to put in an hour. Just look for what you can cut out of your day that will bring the result of more time. Yes, we are all artists! We simply must begin carving!
Comments
Someone once told me that to create a painting an artist needs to see what isn't necessary or "productive to the painting," (like Michaelangelo), and paint around that. Did you ever see the film The Girl With The Pearl Earring? It makes sense, even to one as unartistic as I am, that we are the substance. The negative (like with a photograph), so to speak, is what God carves around. For an image of this think of the curled pieces of detached paper we get when we cut out paper dolls!
Anyway, I adore the image of the red overalls floating down the river! You simply "carved away" what was not needed.
That is a gift that God gave you at a very young age, I see!
Great post.
Have I digressed? Bunny trails are my specialty!
Michele