Art and Artists

   I have been blessed by having the opportunity to spend two days in the Louvre in Paris.  It was a moving experience that remains with me to this day.  For a simple man from small-town Kentucky the Louvre was an awakening.  My heart was touched by the beauty of what I saw.

   I saw the Mono Lisa, the paintings of Rembrandt, Reuben and others.  Sculptures such as the Venus de Milo.  Works of art that have influenced so many people through the centuries.

   Yet, all that is on the canvas is just paint.  The sculptures are just pieces of stone.  In and of themselves they are nothing.  The beauty was in the artists who put the paint to canvas; the sculptors who saw the beauty hidden in the stone.  Without their vision and abilities there would be no masterpiece of art.

   The Mona Lisa is simply a small painting of a not so beautiful woman; it was the vision of Da Vinci that makes it an eternal thing of beauty.  Have you ever heard of Alexandro of Antioch?  He is the sculpture who carved the Venus de Milo.  His vision is what makes it a timeless treasure.

   I look at the beauty of the world and am in awe.  The colors in the sunrise, the majesty of a starry night or the power in the thunderstorm are incredible works of art.  The simple daisy or the majestic redwoods; all of nature is part of the artistry that is our world.  Can a person stand at the edge of the Grand Canyon and not be in awe?  Can we sail the oceans and not be humbled by the vastness?  All is beauty, all is glory.

   Just as art is the result of an artist and their vision, so too is the world and its’ beauty.  God created all and it is good.  It is from His palette that the beauty of sunrise is created.  It is His hand that carved the Grand Canyon.  Art does not create itself; it needs a creator.  The Mona Lisa had Da Vinci.  The Venus de Milo had Alexandro.  Our world, our universe and all the beauty and majesty within has God, the creator of all.

Father we marvel at the works of great artists.

Yet we take Your world for granted.

Help us to recognize Your glory and majesty.

Show us the eternal artistry of Your creation.

Amen