No, I didn't get lazy over break; I finished the grading and got domestic -- a bit of embroidery on a baby gift, a new hem for a favorite coat, watched a movie with the family . . . and now it seems I've a moment when I'm rested enough to think about something besides class prep and grades.
Today, snippets I especially appreciated from Charlie:
* In giving his testimony, he referred to "the relentless tenderness of Jesus" -- what a wonderful image, and one we so often don't understand (the heavenly hound, "terrible goodness").
* Several times he urged us to be "interested in what God is interested in -- which is everything."
* Ask yourself each morning, "What kind of creative person will I become today?" (And he reminded us that all people are creative; creativity is not a gift solely of the artist. The church is "God's gifted ones gathering as communities to do God's work.")
* Read the Old Testament to learn what it means to be human, to understand the glory of man and his shame -- then "bring both the glory and the shame to God and use it in creative work through Him."
* When a student asked an especially insightful question, his face lit up, he pointed to her, and said, "You have wisdom, Little Sister!"
* And I loved this: Take your creative work and offer it to God: "Look what I made, Father!"
Tomorrow, God and grading willing, what Charlie said about the tension between being Christian and being an artist in today's culture.
No comments:
Post a Comment
If you are commenting anonymously, some kind of identification to let me know who you are or how you found my weblog will go far to keeping me from deleting your comment! Thank you.