The Gifting and the Giver

I can't take credit for the title of this note.  It's a song from the new Steve Bell CD Kindness (which I highly recommend). Before I even knew all the words, one line in particular struck me - "the painter of this picture I adore, the Gifting and the Giver".  I love the thought of God as an artist, and as I listened closer to the song I realized it was about the author sitting on a beach, admiring all the different things he could see and hear (the sound of waves crashing, sands shifting, rocks carved out by waves, sunsets) and in so adoring this vast beauty, he was adoring God Himself.  Beautiful!

I spent the afternoon humming this song. I looked at my two-month-old baby, and listened to the chorus:

And I on shore admire this living scripture 

And adore the painter of this picture

I adore the gifting and the Giver

I admired my little one, adoring this beautiful gift and the One who gave him to me. I can totally relate to this song.

Lately I have taken great joy in creativity through homeschooling my two oldest children.  As we sit together, painting, or building, or writing, I have been unable to articulate exactly how I feel.  People ask me how it's going, and I try to explain how wonderful it is, but I can't seem to find the right words.  I'll say, "I painted with the kids today, it was so great!"  And I can tell they're like, "yeah...okay."  But I know they really don't get what I'm trying to say.  Mostly because I didn't really know what I was trying to say myself.

It's beyond joy, happiness, even excitement - though these are definitely part of it.  It almost seems silly to me to feel so much about something so relatively minor.  I am not a great artist, nor a great writer - yet the thrill of creating resonates in me. In listening to this song I realize that it's not only the creation but the Creator that has me so excited.  Sharing in the masterpiece of the life God has created in me and my children by being so intimately involved in their learning is exhilarating!  And it causes me to turn my heart with joy to the painter of this glorious picture. He continues His great work with me watching, and just when I think He's done He adds another stroke, and then another, and while I could never imagine it being more beautiful - it is.  Life is like this, and in this way we are truly the greatest of God's creatures.  Because He spends a lifetime perfecting us, and when we think we're done, He adds one more stroke, and we are more beautiful than ever.

I can really relate to the thought of God as an artist, not because I am an artist, but because I appreciate beauty.  And being home with my family every day, watching my children grow, teaching and learning alongside them, it is ever before my eyes.  How can I not be filled with joy?

You can get more information about Steve Bell's new CD on his website, http://stevebell.com/music-video/discography/kindness-album/.