Marvin James Leister, 2009, High Diver!
When admiring a beautiful piece of art, what makes us look at it and study it intently, Detail!
The small defining elements the Artist works into his creation, pulling all together, to make a whole that adeptly captures our interest!
With out detail we might glimpse but ultimately we would pass right by because it would simply blend in with everything else !
Our youngest son , Marvin, loved “I Spy books” when he was young ! If you have never seen these books and I will bet you have, they consist of a series of large colorful pictures with a conglomeration of items all set out in a seemingly order less pattern.
His fascination with these books, was that in all their plethora ( there’s that word again) of items, he had to find one or two, as instructed. It took an attentive eye for detail to accomplish the task. Quite spellbinding for a inquisitive young mind.
Marvin loves a challenge, and as a 4 & 5 year old he would sit for hours navigating through the chaos, finding the designated objects!
Coming and setting the book up on the kitchen counter, so that I could see it, no matter what I might be doing! He would challenge me, “ Come Mom, look with me, help me find ….” Oh, how I miss those childhood days, Marv!!
Proverbs 25:2 “ It is the Glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.”
God has set forth truths we must search for and be diligent to find even in a world filled with so much distraction and obscurity!
Our children’s lives can go by with out any definition, everything running together as if all had the same distinction and value!
We must give them an eye for detail so that they will seek out these truths, changing their perspective from looking at the whole picture to looking for God in the picture!
There was another series of books that were similar that Marvin also enjoyed! The “ Where is Waldo” books! Instead of finding a particular object in a menagerie of others, you had to find a funny character name “ Waldo”, of course, as he travel through different back drops!
The thing about these books was, as soon as your mind became familiar with the details of Waldo’s form, your eyes would instinctively be able to quickly pick apart the picture to find him.
In the beginning my eyes would see him 1st, being more practiced at picking out detail but it wasn’t long before Marvin was triumphantly pointing Waldo out to me!
Once we found him, when ever we would return to this picture, the figure of Waldo stuck out like “sore thumb” ( a term my mother used) ! Basically we could not look at the picture with out seeing Waldo, our minds would ask us “ Now, how did I ever not see him there? “
Proverbs 8: 17 says “ I love those who love me and those who seek me find me!”
God is visible to those looking for Him and when we finally recognize Him in every backdrop of our lives, we will never again loose sight of Him!
We begin pointing Him out to our children but soon they are pointing Him out to us!
As I look at my work of Art ( my motherhood ) I am reminded of a Artist I once admired, Bev Doolittle, she painted beautiful western art scenes.
If you looked at the scene long enough, you realized the fascinating details she was able to bring out in her paintings revealed, a picture with in the picture!
I pray that as we apply His details, the Master is shinning through our Masterpieces!
John 17: 20 “ My prayer is not for them alone, I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” NIV Loving The Father, Phyllis Leister
