Susan Lafferty“Hmm,” my college art teacher says. Then again, “Hmmmm.”
She’s looking over my shoulder. At the simple drawing. Graphite lines. Bare bones to plan and guide the assigned painting.
“Bigger. Go big!” She says. With increasing volume. Her arms flying out for emphasis. “Stretch it out. Go biiiig.”
The startling command contrasts with my small, neat pencil sketch. So confined and contained.
Approaching October. In a year that beats all. And it occurs to me. I can’t remember this year’s verse.
Typically, I ask the Lord if there’s a verse to focus on throughout the year.
And I write the chosen verse out. Meditate on it. Consider applications along the way. Note similar themes in daily Bible readings that year.
Today, I’m searching. It’s September. And no 2020 verse is written on my spiral-bound notecards. What?
Limits. We fight restrictions.
Don’t tie us down. Hem us in. Hold us back.
The old lie seeps in from birth. All the way from the Garden. “Did God actually say, ‘Don’t eat this’?” (Genesis 3:1-7)
And asserting independence, we step subtly off the path. Veer inconspicuously outside the way of truth. Go our own way.
We’re entitled to this freedom. This pleasure.
So we think.
