An art journey ~
Here is one of my painting processes
this week In The Studio
I'm honored to host the "Sneak Peak" this week!
I encourage you to visit the blogs of the other
creative inspirational artists and writers at the bottom of this post.
Listening to my mp3 player,
I hear this line:
"Turn this broken earth to holy ground".
I grab my pencil and the nearest paper
and jot down
"Luke 8. Parable of the Soils. 100 fold harvest."
And then I jot down a prayer
that spills from my heart:
A few years ago,
Beth Moore taught at a simulcast about this very parable.
It has stayed with me.
I've written about it.
Spoken about it.
And now created art.
But this piece grew in a way so directed by
the Spirit.
I found a book at a flea market 7-10 days ago
--a Bible story book copyright 1878--
in German.
My Grandpa Tommy was a German living in Russia
and immigrated to the United States through Ellis Island in 1908
when he was a baby.
My husband's grandfather John was German also.
I can't read German, but I deciphered this title was from Luke 8:4-15.
The Parable of the Soils.
This book below belonged to my husband's grandfather: John Wahl.
So, I am scanning this old farm machinery manual
that has incredible diagrams
and printing them for this piece.
I start reading the titles of the sections:
Each section starts with an intro and I am reading them.
And it is like Jesus is telling me this parable
himself right here in this old
John Deere farm machinery manual.
Don't ever tell me that
God doesn't speak to my heart
through something other than the Bible.
Yes, I've read the parable of the soils in my Bible.
I've studied it. I've written about it.
But this little farm machinery manual
was full of truth!
Just read Luke 8:4-15.
{I put it on the piece, but go get your own Bible and read it.}
In the Parable, there is a sower, the seed, and the soil.
The Sower is God, the seed is the word of God, the soil is the heart of man.
So, I'm reading:
"Part One: Preparation of the Seed Bed
{I'm thinking: the Soil, the heart of man, my heart}
The plow.
{I'm thinking: An instrument used by the farmer/sower}
The plow is the most important implement used in seed bed prepartion.
Its purpose is to pulverize or break up the soil
admitting air and light--two essentials to normal plant growth.
The plow covers surface trash or manure, mixing it with the soil to decay (die) and furnish plant food."
Ok, so are you with me?
The plow pulverizes or breaks up the soil.
I relate. In the past my heart was broken up, pulverized by the Sower,
who let in air and Light, essential for my growth,
covered up the surface trash/manure, {the crap of my old sin and surface fakeness}
mixed it up in the soil {my heart} to die {dead sin, dead fakeness, dead lies}.
To be the food for the growth in my heart.
Remember, I'm reading a farm machinery manual from, oh, I don't know, 1950?
And this is the message I'm getting.
Jesus is so good isn't He?
So good at speaking my language if I will listen.
So smart to teach us in stories.
Reading on in the manual . . .
"Part 2: Planting
If planted accurately . . . maximum yields will result,
provided, of course, that other conditions and practices are correct."
"Part 3: Cultivating.
The destruction of weeds is the primary purpose of cultivation.
Weeds are truly theives . . . they steal profits . . ."
Weeds are truly theives.
In John 10, Jesus said the theif comes to steal, kill, and destroy,
but I have come that they might have life
and have it more
abundantly.
Weeds equals theif.
Weeds steal our abundant life, steal the intended abundant harvest.
And then we come to
"Part 4: Harvesting"
I almost laughed out loud when I read the first line
because so many of you in my family and community know the
obvious truth of this statement:
"Harvest season is the busiest time of the year on every farm."
Really?
Whether it is the "harvest" of cows calving in the spring,
or the harvest of hay being put up in the summer,
harvest of grain, harvest of the garden.
Busy, indeed it is.
And if it's not busy??
Well, on a ranch or farm,
not busy harvest means not happy ranchers.
{smile}
But seriously, read Luke 8:4-15.
The 100 fold harvest only comes with the right conditions.
The abundant fruitful life only comes
when The Sower is allowed to
do the hard work in our heart of
preparing the ideal seed bed
putting the plow to our hearts,
turning the trash into nourishment,
cultivating the weeds out that choke out the growth,
planting the word in the rich, prepared soil
of a good, noble heart,
that's been thawed from winter's freeze,
broken through the surface, through the shallowness of heart,
into the depths of the truest self,
softening the soil,
preparing it for the Seed
of the Word.
Which only then can it take root, grow, mature, and bear fruit
in our lives.
Not easy.
But the harvest is good.
As I made this piece of art.
And as Jesus spoke His parable through the farm machinery manual,
my thoughts turned to the good men in my life
that have been or are ranchers and farmers
{and I know, that ranchers are ranchers and farmers are farmers,
but most ranchers have to do some farming,
and many farmers do some ranching}.
But, anyway, these are some of them men I'm thinking of:
my husband Jim, my dad Phil, my brother Reed,
my Grandpa Tommy,
my brother and father-in-law, Les & Jim,
Jim's grandpa's Les and John,
my uncles
Roger, Willie, Marvin, Hofer, Odde,
some of my cousins,
those friends in our church and community
that I won't list because surely I'll leave somebody off.
And in my mind's eye,
I see Jesus talking to them
man-to-man
not wearing a robe,
but Wrangler's and a faded, grease-stained, western shirt,
smelling like the sweetness of fresh cut hay,
mingled with gasoline, dirt, sweat and grease
talking about haying equipment
breaking soil, seeds, cutting,
and
harvesting.
He wouldn't talk to them
in the thees and thous of King James language,
or with airs of arrogance, or with fancy speech.
He would talk to them in the language of
of cattlemen and farmers . . .
showing Himself and His kingdom,
with stories about everyday working life.
*
*
So much goes through my mind and heart
as I create a piece of art.
Some more than others.
This was one full of God speaking to my heart.
Putting a message into it.
He is the one who sits in the seat of the machinery . . .
*
*
Along with the piece above, these below are a tribute
to my home
and family and heritage
and a prayer for those hard working hands
that have meant so much in my life.
I'm thrilled to be taking my work to my favorite gallery in the Black Hills of South Dakota:
Showing Art & Photography at Jon Crane Gallery
256 Main Street, Hill City, South Dakota
Sunday, July 31, 2011, 2:00-5:00 p.m.
Art, photos, and text, copyright 2011. Jodene (Jodi) Shaw.
