2025 week 2 “right before the dawn”

“…right before the dawn…”

Sitting on the floor in my buddies wood shop. I am surrounded by cleanliness, disorder, order, dust, wood scraps, and potential. The potential is buried deep in the wood. The shelf in front of me holds about two hundred boards of various size. In those boards my friend will uncover various bits of treasured art.

It’s a lot like any given day in life. There are treasures to be discovered. Little bits of beauty to be uncovered.

The whole concept of God as Creator does not work for some people, though for me it’s a way of life. A way of life that leads me to think of each individual as created in the image of the Creator and thus each individual can, could, may, should -create. Others may see it differently. In fact many who are also creative don’t even believe in God as the Creator. That should not dissuade them from being creative, but it may not lead them to see each individual as creative.

When I think of individuals as creative I dont necessarily equate this as an art form such as: painting, music, pottery or woodworking. I do a bit of all of those things, yet I realize that some in the artist community want to say some thing are crafts and some things are art. That type of distinction doesn’t interest me. I’m interested in the creative process and the potential to create. I believe we are all created in the image of the Creator and thus have the ability to create.

From this world view I am able to see art in so much of life. Mechanics, homemakers, wordsmiths, teachers, retail sales, folks who work with numbers, cooks, waiters, builders, cleaners, and the list goes on -they are all creative. You can see this happening in the most mundane of jobs.

Sometimes I watch the guys in our city who collect the trash and clean up the wood/ building debris. These guys are creative. They have a method. And our city looks great because of what they do.  It’s not a fancy job with a fancy title but they sure do make where we live beautiful.

It’s important to stop and observe and to think about how and why people do what they do. That observation in and of itself is an art form. It takes a creative plan to sit and observe.

The darkest hour… I know a lot of folks who are going through some dark hours, some hard times, painful times, suffering. It isn’t easy. It isn’t fun. They want it to be over, I want it to be over for them. Tough times are not desirable.

So is it true that things get worse before they get better? My experience says, “sometimes but not all the time.” I don’t think there are hard set rule to how it works.

I do know that after the moment many people believe that those hard times made them stronger. Stronger than they had been. Stronger than before.

As a kid I was in the “Bigger, Faster, Stronger” program before the basketball season began. It was positively brutal. One thing I remember was when coach drove us out miles from school and had us get off the school bus. We were all holding a bowling pin in each hand. He told us to run back to school. Then he drove off. After we made it back to the gymnasium did sprint type drills till we could barely move. After a week of that he moved us up to gallon milk jugs filled with water or sand (something heavy). We complained and carried on. Showing each other battle scars, blisters and our imagined injuries yet we did get stronger. We became tough.

That example of toughness doesn’t carry over to cancer, suicide, depression, heart attacks and loss. Truth of the matter is that sometimes our weakness is overwhelming. What then? How do we go on? How do we keep moving? For me it is the creative approach to life.

I don’t mean that I make more art or do artistic things and then everything is alright. Nope that ain’t the artistic approach that I take. I go to the “image of the Creator” idea. If all of that is correct then this skin is not all there is. If I am correct about a Creator then the hope is actually in the concept of eternal life. The hope is that in eternity all the pain and sorrow will be over. This is because the God/man (Christ) conquered death and hell so that we do not have to. He did it FOR me, he did it FOR you too. So although there is a lot of pain and suffering in this present time, a time is coming when all that will end.

So, what is it that compels us to think about “the dawn?” I don’t know but I like the expression, “it has dawned on me…” Dawn is a new beginning. It is a new revelation, a new understanding. A fresh start where all the pain and sorrow and suffering are gone.

I’m looking forward to the dawn. For now I am trying to be tough, to be “bigger, faster, stronger” during this present darkness. I have hope in the Creator. I believe in the creation He has created. I believe in you. We are created in His image.

Do not despair the dawn is coming! You are a beautiful work of art. You are created in the very image of the Creator.