Thank you for joining us!
Before we begin our devotional, I wanted to share a Comment Highlight from last week:
This week, I wanted to share this insightful comment TBollen made on our discussion thread last week. Maybe you can relate?
I have reached a stage in life (having lived under 14 U.S. Presidents -- do the math) where I don't know what The Next Phase looks like. I can usually live with that ambiguity, since I'm still happily and gainfully employed, but as I ask myself the question, "What would you do if," I get crickets. It's both exhilarating and unnerving. It's where the Tyranny of the Shoulds and the Allure of the Woulds seem to collide. Since we're all wired to move toward something, my goal is to have a clearer sense of just what that state is toward which I'm being drawn. When I ask God, He just smiles and winks.
I loved the way you put this, TBollen, and I think a lot of us can find ourselves in this comment, no matter what stage of life we’re in!
If you want a chance to be featured in next week’s Comment Highlight, all you have to do is post a comment on any of this week’s posts or threads. That’s it!
Now, on with this week’s devotional…
sometimes there is entirely too much wall and filling it with art feels like a daunting task; but sometimes you have a piece of art so precious that no amount of wall will ever be enough.
The first piece of what could popularly be considered “fine art” I ever fell in love with was Christina’s World, by Andrew Wyeth.
We didn’t meet in a museum, gallery, or coffee table book. No, no. I first set eyes on Christina’s World as a shrink-wrapped print at a Barnes & Noble bookstore.
I don’t know if B&N still sells art, but back in those days (just after high school, I believe) they did. They had reproductions of several famous pop art staples for $19.99 each. What a steal!
I was flipping through the offerings out of curiosity when I saw it. Christina’s World, with her muted palette, striking figure lying in the grass, and distant farm buildings in haunting detail. It was like a story, unfolding before my very eyes.
I had never seen anything like it before. I was entranced.
I bought the print, a bit of a strain on my wallet in those part-time-job days, and found a frame for her. Ever since, she has followed me from living space to living space. And since most of those living spaces were rentals where I couldn’t put any nails in the wall, she usually ended up propped up on my bedside table or tucked safely away in a closet, waiting for a more permanent home on the perfect surface.
This weekend, housebound in the pouring rain, I was putting some things away when I discovered her in a closet, and suddenly realized that my new-ish home office space would be perfect for her!
Finally, a real home on a real wall!
But that’s where the trouble began. I walked all around the little room, placing Christina’s World in several places, standing back as far as I could to get a sense of how she would look there. But I soon got overwhelmed with the desire to make her new spot the perfect spot. The right lighting, the right place to be viewed.
After all, she has waited almost 20 years for this!
Finally, defeated, I put the hammer away and tucked the picture back in the closet. My favorite piece of fine art, to this day, and I still can’t bring myself to display her.
What’s the metaphor? I’m not sure. Perfection? Insecurity? The tyranny of choice? Too much wallspace? Fear of commitment?
Take from it what you will, but here is what I’m telling myself: some things are never going to be perfect until you decide to see them that way. I know that once Christina’s World is on my office wall I will feel delight, no matter where I’ve placed her. But I need to take the step, make the choice, and act.
Perhaps today will be the day I finally take my own advice.
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I love this. Why is hanging art so hard!? And also I adore Andrew Wyeth and feel a deep, deep connect with him. My family has had several close encounters with the Wyeth inner circle and I’ve visited the spot where Christina’s World was started. I think Andy was such a trickster and impulsive contrarian that he would love for you to hang Christina’s World in a decidedly imperfect place. Maybe think of the rowdy spirit of the painter when you hang your favorite piece? :)
(What a beautiful written comment! I’ll be thinking about it for days!)
I was introduced to Christina’s World through a Christina Baker Klein’s A Piece of the World, a fiction novel in which Wyeth spends a number of years on a farm painting Christina’s World. The book is centered on Christina and her family’s life on that farm. I will never see this painting without thinking of the story!