Part of the pain of being an artist (whether with paint, dance, or words) is that during the process of translating an artistic vision into a medium that can be shared, the result doesn’t always match up with the image in our minds. I find it particularly frustrating when trying to communicate about “God stuff.” God is so beyond description that my efforts will always fall short.
I seek to write truth-filled stories, but my words often feel clumsy. They are the best words I have to offer, but I express only hints of what I long to understand or share.
Then I remember why I feel called to work in the arts (music, theatre, dance, and now writing). God is so awesome and multifaceted that we need a WIDE variety of means to communicate with Him and about Him. One means isn’t enough. Give me a pipe organ, but also compose a work on electric guitar. Write a sonnet, but also a thriller. Every kind of art, every genre, gives us one more facet of His beauty, and one more means to convey the truth of our falleness and His grace.
Yes, the efforts will fall short, but the attempt is glorious, because as we study the beautiful vista in order to interpret it, we are changed by it.
So let’s continue the struggle of creating art in every form, hoping others will glimpse the beauty of God’s grace at work within the reality of our sometimes ugly lives.
Blessings!
Sharon Hinck
(author of The Deliverer)
