Expressing a worldview through a brush, holding up thoughts through the vista of colorful strokes, speaking a language that may be overlooked among those who witness it …we are artists.

At this point and time in 2021, we have continued to be involved in a world under the pressure of COVID, the challenges (for some) of winter and the landscape of highly volatile politics.

This may have affected your fluency at your work or it may not have. Be that as it may, you and I are standing in a world gone wild with chatter.

Opinions.

Passionate thoughts expressed.

Emotional seascapes running the scales of noted human feelings.

And in the midst of all this …we have a gift in our hands.

To be gentle.

Art at the outset may be a place of rest for many. A reprieve from the intensity of life itself at this time.

And weak, weary and wounded, they come.

Perhaps they open your email. Perhaps they scroll your feed. Perhaps they sit back and watch and listen.

Be gentle.

Tell the truth. Be wise. But do it with love.

For some, we may be as a last refuge. A place to find relief. For others, an escape from the pressures of heaviness that weighs them down.

Your art is now much like a guide to their footsteps.

Be gentle.

And give them a place to get in touch with Him.

He’s the answer. Not us. Not our art.

Our art is as a vessel. A quiet one. Sometimes missed, sometimes seen, perhaps little realized.

And when they step onto our vessel we take them somewhere.

Take them to God.

He is the answer.

O Lord God, help us as artists to use the gift you have given us to place the hands of the world into Your hand. And connect their hearts to Your heart. Their hopes to Your hope for them. Please help us to do this wisely and with love.