Five-Minute Friday: Paint

Once again I have joined Lisa-Jo Baker (and other ladies) for Five-Minute Friday. Today the word was "Paint". It prompted poetry for me. :) And also now makes me want to sit down and paint something. :) So, as happens every week, Lisa-Jo gives us a word to write about. We write for 5 minutes straight with no editing! :) It is often a challenge but always rewarding. Hop on over to Lisa-Jo's site, read some of the writing and maybe even join in yourself some week! :)

To explain the end of my poem: As I was getting to the end of the 5 minutes (and the end of my poem), and thinking about how I feel when I do creative things, whether painting or writing or whatever, a quote from Eric Liddell popped in my head. If you don't know who he is, watch Chariots of Fire. :) Anyways, at one point he said, "God made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure." So, I adapted that quote to end my poem (just seconds before the timer rang). :)

START

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus…” ~Ephesians 2:10a

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” ~Psalm 139: 13-14a

Paint

Pigments squirt into a palette,

            colours of the world.

A brush sweeps and swirls across the canvas,

            apparent chaos but, in time, a masterpiece emerges.

Beauty.

            Beauty in the majestic, the simple, the pretty

            BUT beauty also in the old, the rotten, the desolation

Beauty in the broken.

And God, with His magnificent brush strokes,

            creates beauty in THIS Broken

This canvas of my life, but a small piece of the canvas of the universe,

            intertwined together

            seemingly chaotic until I look back

And I see beauty.

            Beauty in the joy, beauty in the hardships

                        dark, harsh colours where hurt made its mark

                        bright, joy-filled colours where peace and joy have touched.

My canvas,

my sweeps and swirls of the brush,

my mixing of pigments,

just a cheap imitation of what God has already done

Showing beauty in my life as best as I can.

And “when I [paint] I feel His pleasure”.

STOP

Beauty in the pretty - a dahlia from a local park

Beauty in desolation

Beauty in the broken - My Mother's Hands