Our roof space is a tip. We just chuck everything up there ( it is a big space mostly floored out) and over 18 years we have amassed all sorts of junk which we really should sort through and chuck out. However, in the search for a cardboard box ( successful) I came across another box which was full of blank canvasses. I had completely forgotten that ages ago, when we first put our house on the market. in a fit of tidying enthusiasm I had packed up a whole load of books and things I thought I wouldnt need for a while and bunged them in the loft.. The blank canvasses had been moved from under my bed to up in the attic and yesterday I re-discovered them and brought them back down again. Because now I have a ' studio' up at Keiths Mum's farm and I can store them there.
As I opened the lid of the box to see what was in it. I heard myself saying ' oooh, blank canvasses' and simultaneously heard God say ' Look! Blank canvasses!' I suppose it doesnt take a genius to work out what that might be about!Do you have a box of ' blank canvasses' stashed away somewhere? Perhaps projects which you had thought you might embark on at some point and then put on the back burner for another day? Money that you invested in something but then never followed up on? Maybe your canvasses are new christians or non-christians that God has brought into your life because He wants you to invest in them. Whatever our canvasses are, they are no good sitting in a box somewhere.
When I first started painting the idea of a blank canvas was a bit terrifying. I had no confidence at all in my ability to apply paint and was really rubbish at trying to come up with an idea of what I wanted to create. But now Ive been painting for a few years I like nothing better than slapping a base coat or a wash of colour on a plain white page. I have also shifted from being scared of making a mistake to now being more than happy to dabble and experiment and just see what happens. When I started painting I thought there was a right way and a wrong way to do it. Now I realise that it is the process of creating and not necessarily the end result which is important. If you happen to get a great end result, well that's a bonus, but enjoying the process is much more than half of the fun.
Every day is a blank canvas. Every new person we meet provides us with a bank relationship to start to colour in. Every time we come to worship we can create a brand new work of art for God's eyes. And the interesting thing is that there are no pre-drawn lines on a canvas. It's not the same as a colouring page where you have to colour inside the lines. A canvas is a world of possibilities. Your painting will be different from mine. When you look back on your day yesterday what did you paint? On the fresh clean page God gives you today what are you going to draw? Will you use loads of colour and splash yourself about so that people stop and take notice, or will you sit quietly and observe, see what God is doing and paint that on your page? Will you paint with your emotions or your habits? Will what you create today be kind or harsh, joyful or sad, busy or calm?
I wonder if God has a fridge in heaven on which He puts our paintings every day?
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