Practice what you preach

Two more masks down, two more to go - one of which I cannot even begin to understand how I'm going to make happen.  You'd think two completed would be enough, right?  Well... it's not.  Like too many times in life, I want more.  I WANT MORE.

*SIGH of (near) defeat*

I'm getting to the point I knew was coming when the only solution for a major design issue is divine intervention alone.  This point isn't anything like what I anticipated it to be.  It's worse.

At the bottom of my work email, I have the following quote in the signature line...

"Pray the unthinkable.  Attempt the impossible."

I can't remember where the quote originated but I believe it was from a book I recently finished by Mark Batterson called "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day."  For all intents and purposes, it's a Christian-based motivational and self-help book.  I mean, I'm sure Mr. Batterson could argue against such a conclusion but I'm trying to put his amazing piece of literature in the simplest terms possible - especially with regard to nonbelievers.

I've been doing these masks for so long they've become a part of me.  When people ask me about my work, mask making is the first thing I think about.  If people ask me about how I would create a piece to illuminate x, y, or z subject matter, I immediately go to how it would be interpreted in mask form.  *shrug* I don't know what to do with myself?  I mean, there's definitely some reason (I don't understand) that I'm so compelled to make them but at the same time, I'm not trying to be "that Christian artist who makes the masks."  Still... if that's what the Lord wants me to do right now?  That's the only thing I can and will be able to do.

I have railed against God's calling to me for too much of my life and the one thing I know for sure - no matter how stubborn and bullheaded I definitely am -  is that I cannot do it without the will of God.  I've got to be doing what He wants me to do.  I must be committed to doing whatever He commands even if it feels impossible and appears insurmountable.  And whatever I do in Him will be so but I have to be willing to have faith in Him and truly act in it.  My actions need to be indicative of belief in His ability to be within me and all I do.

My goal with these masks is to create something that blows people away and gives them a tangible illustration of the Lord's almighty power.  Others are called to minister with their words and services but I know I am called to minister by creating art that glorifies Him.