At the start of this term (the term of my final university exams), I was directed to this verse by a Bible-reading plan entitled, 'The Lies of Busyness'. Psalm 39.6a says this, "We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing" (NLT). How did the writer of this Psalm, all those thousands and thousands of yeas ago, know so clearly what life would be like today?! I think this is one of my biggest fears when I think about the future: that all my busyness achieves nothing; that I don't make a difference to anyone; that I don't change or do anything. It's easy to think when each day is taken up with writing essay after essay on obscure topic after obscure topic! And to be honest, a lot of my busyness IS pointless! When I busy myself making more lists of what I need to do, or busy myself in procrastination, even when I busy myself so much with work that I neglect the people around me. Busyness in and of itself is not a bad thing. I would hate it if I spent day after day doing nothing; I could always find something to busy myself with! "But busyness requires intention," as the Bible-reading plan so adequately put it. ... And then, after I'd painted on my shadows rushing around, and the busy dashes heading in every direction, ending in nothing, my eyes were drawn to the end of verse 7. "My hope is in you." (ESV). Sometimes I can't see what my busyness is headed for, but my hope and my intention is in God and therefore I will follow where he leads me and do what he challenges me to do. So I painted on a red dashed line. One which umm-ed and ahh-ed in curves and points, U-turns and spirals, but one which was drawn inexplicably along by the hope and light that comes only from God. MY PRAYER: Lord, amidst the busyness of this exam term, may my hope and the intention of all my actions be found in you. Guard me from pointless busyness and challenge me to live busy with a purpose; YOUR purpose. My hope IS in you. AMEN. For several reasons I've been getting more into art and the role it plays in theology and faith recently (something I have some blog posts in the pipeline for, hopefully to come out soon!) and something I came across is 'Bible Art Journalling' - my first example above! I never knew this was a thing, but there are tonnes of web communities built around it - the one I've been working with is Rebekah R Jones' Heaven is Calling devotional, which she puts up a monthly idea and tutorial for, which you can do at any time (suits me), and I've been watching some of her classes that she's just set up for beginners too!
Anyway, the point isn't whether the art is "good", or beautiful or anything; but that you are able to spend time looking at and thinking about the text in the Bible more, and connecting with it in a way we don't always when just reading the stories and passages we have always known. Even just from thinking about and doing this one, I've been engaging with what that passage of Scripture means to me more than just reading it, and the image is always there as a visual reminder of my thoughts. If you like art too; maybe give it a go! :-D
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AuthorI'm a recent Cambridge Theology graduate now studying for a Masters in Biblical Studies and blogging about all sorts of things! I'm interested in faith, Church, theology, social action, the great outdoors and being creative, and all of those things - along with many more - come through in my posts!
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