Life As A Work Of Art

My friend and spiritual mentor paints. One day when we were talking on the phone, she told me she had just finished painting some pictures that were spiritually inspired but she didn't know who they were of.

She described the first picture which was of a woman. As she described the painting to me, I knew without a doubt that it was a picture of me. It had all the elements of some of my recent dreams and also a symbol of the powerlessness I had experienced in the past.

She had done a couple other pictures at the same time - they were part man and part animal. I recognized those pictures also from her description - a person who is on the same road I am on. Our spiritual paths resonate with some of the same vibrations.

My friend gave me the paintings - the one of me was my Christmas present. The other two were to be passed along to the person they were meant for.

She also loaned me a book - "Joy Lasts" by Sister Wendy Beckett. I thought it was a strange book for her to lend me because it is about the spiritual in art; and I have no ability in that area. But I have learned not to question anything she does. I knew there would be something in that book that I was meant to read, and could apply to my life. I was not mistaken.

In describing a particular painting, Sister Beckett uses these words, "This is pure image, moving us to our depths with its beauty and integrity, its passion for truth, its sense of wonder. The longer we look at......the more profoundly it will reveal to us our own potential for depth, perhaps our need for integrity."

Who among us has not experienced the painful longing for something we can not even put into words....a longing we keep trying to find some tangible thing to satisfy it with.....but it grows and grows....until at last we face the fact that this hunger can never be satisfied with anything we will find in the material world.

It is a Soul Hunger.....a Cry from the inner depths of our being.....a cry for Expression....a Need for a life lived with truth and integrity.....the kind of life that Fills us with awe and wonder.....the kind of life that fills us with a State of Grace.