Kids as Art

Sabbath.

Art.

These two words have been playing off each other in my brain for a couple of weeks now. I guess it started when our pastor preached a sermon about Sabbath, and that same week there was an "Art Night" at church. I'm not sure if that was coincidence, but this quote (used in the program for the Art Night) pairs the two together in an interesting way:

“Like visitors to an art gallery who arrive 20 minutes before closing time we rush from exhibit to exhibit, fearful that we shall miss something worthwhile. The horizon of our own finitude haunts us, and we rush to cram as much as we possibly can into the available space, traveling ever faster and further, seeing and tasting more, trying out as many options as we can while we have the time and, ironically, as a consequence having time for very little at all. Has there ever been a generation with so little time actually to take time and enjoy the world? Always craving the next thing we so often fail to savour the moment offered to us.” (Hope Against Hope: Christian Eschatology at the Turn of the Millennium by Richard Bauckham and Trevor Hart, 178)

I've been thinking about Sabbath and Art as they relate to motherhood. My children are two of the most exquisitely beautiful pieces of art I will ever see, and I am lucky enough to have them with me every day. But so often I am rushing around, trying to make time for everything... failing to savor the moment... haunted by my own finitude.

I can hear God calling me to slow down, to see what He has done, what He is doing... particularly in and through my children. An art exhibit may stay in a museum for weeks or even years, but today is the only day that my children will be who they are right now. What a privilege to hear them laugh, see them grow, help them learn today.

God, bring me out of the rushing chaos and into your Sabbath rest. Thank you for the amazing art you have created in my children. Help me to slow down and appreciate it today and every day. Amen.