My art

One of the most recent neon signs that God has been flashing at me is this: Shelly, You are an Artist. It's flashing in green neon, because green is my favorite color lately.

So, to honor God's flashing light, I have started an ART GROUP. Want to join? Here's what this means: Me and all the other artists out there get together to make art. For example, last Saturday morning my pal Lee and I photographed random things at the Farmer's Market. Of course, my favorite photo was not one I took at the Farmer's Market, but one I took while getting back into the car with my 2 year old. He's a feisty little fella and wouldn't obey his mommy by standing next to the car. Instead, he had to go check out the chain link fence in front of our car and ... the perfect shot appeared right before my eyes. I love photography.

Did you know that there are churches out there who have "artist groups" and communities of people who just hang out and do art stuff together? Now, that's cool. My church doesn't have this, but I'm going to start this. Heck, I'll even be the "art pastor." How's that?

When I grow up, I am going to be a photographer. Like that's all I'm going to do with myself is take pictures. I have decided that when "they" wrote all the books on spiritual gifts, "they" forgot to add visual arts. This, I believe, may indeed be my strongest spiritual gift. Capturing God's creation and the beauty my eyes behold is not only a priceless thing, but also a service to others. So, anytime I have to fill out something or tell someone what my spiritual gifts are, I usually list visual arts while they look at me with blank stares. They don't get it. That's OK. When we get to heaven and there is beautiful art beyond what our eyes can imagine or see, they'll remember me and smile. And I will smile back.