“To say—God is the only Artist—is to name a reality too vast for us to behold.” (Extract from a poem composed by Makoto Fujimura)
This is your Monday Short meditation. An artist competition was held at a nearby, special event location. Each entrant was a landscapist. In other words, the contestants were landscape artists. A panel of art critics judged their work that was to represent their best landscape painting. Three awards were given, 3rd place, 2nd place, and of course 1st place. Everyone watching the presentation applauded their work. Well, almost everyone. There was one elderly woman who sat quietly with her arms crossed and her head nodding back and forth from side to side, as if she disagreed with the judges’ decisions. One of the judges noticed and at the end of the event, he went over to see why the elderly lady seemed to disagree. When asked why, the elderly woman reached into her purse, ragged from passing years, and pulled out a small bible that she gripped in her right hand. Then she replied in a raspy voice, speaking slowly, but clearly, “Each one receiving an award did a great job, but a 1st place award should not ever be awarded.” The judge was confounded, confused, so he asks, “Why?” The elderly woman says, “Because the greatest landscapist of all times is the Lord.” The judge had no rebuttal and no response. I’m sure the woman’s words were met with reverence, respect, and most of all a recognition if the fact resounding that the revealed truth spoken by the elderly lady was really indisputable.
The elderly woman was right. Take a minute and look out at the landscape that the Lord painted in the beginning, when He created the heaven and the earth. Isn’t it beautiful? Let us be good stewards of the work of The Greatest Landscapist ever! And since I mentioned stewardship, let us be good stewards of all that God has blessed us with during our lives. Be blessed…more!
“The heavens tell of the glory of God, and their expanse declares the work of His hands.” (Psalm 19:1 NASB)
Committed to the climb,
Mark L. King
Jesus says in John 15:1, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.” In order to stay connected I have to follow Him and recognize that He is the great Gardener, the great Landscaper. As the elderly woman expressed her knowledge of the Greatest, we should do the same.
Amen! In total agreement with your response! Be blessed!