In my younger days, I was known for looking at life through a lens of formulas, equations, and analytics. Every experience and event in life could be distilled, analyzed, and categorized. With the data points, one could and should calculate the alternatives, rank and risk rate, and then choose. Any deviation was an expression of failure, at least mental if not moral.
I may have been smart, but I was dumb. If I had to pick one word to sum up my perspective I choose “idiot”. Life is so much more than data points, big or small, formulas, and logical outcomes. The missing elements in my perspective included the mysterious and unquantifiable stuff of life that I look for. They include beauty, compassion, community, wonder, and love.
I am lucky to have survived. When I think back, the logical end of my views would have been a heartless way of seeing and responding to the individuals in my life that thirst for so much more! Critically, I would say that a bleak outcome was “all he [I] deserves since he was never once kind, hounded the afflicted and heartbroken to their graves.” (Psalm 109.16) Fortunately, the story did not end at that time.
At the top of my life of life’s greatest gifts are the words hope, unconditional acceptance, and freedom. Hope reminds me that anything is possible, especially when it comes to good. Unconditional acceptance reminds me of the greatest gift I have received as well as the greatest gift I can give. Freedom is what exists within every heart, the ability to choose what this moment will be.
The equations of yesterday have given way to a work of art today. Great art has disciplines within it, even when everything looks chaotic. Artwork starts with the heart and works outwards. It is our calling to be relevant, expressive, and uniquely original. I love the anticipation of seeing what others will do with their canvas. I see myself assisting where possible and requested and otherwise staying of out the way!
It’s time to paint.
