LOVE "ART"

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,

and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise...

You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

Deuteronomy 6:5-7, 9

 

To my chagrin, it's not uncommon to stumble upon traces of "art" in unexpected places around our home.

 

For example...

 

 

(This definitely makes laundry more "colorful".)

 

Or...

 

 

(Apparently drawers containing art supplies might prefer to hint at what's inside??)

I could go on...

 

But, ah yes...I get my scratchy sponge and scour away and remind myself that my 13 year old has indeed outgrown such creative overflow. In other words, this too shall pass and one day I'll sit in my pristine house (minus "art") and miss the scribbles of days gone by...I know I will. Still, I ask myself, what were they thinking, those devious little toddlers in my home, so small and curious and growing like weeds? What are they thinking as they leave their marks upon their little world? 

 

And anyway, would they stop growing up already?! NO more blinking, I insist!

 

"Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you;

bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart."
Proverbs 3:3

 

With endearment tucked firm in my mind and intentionality inscribed in my heart, I decide every now and then the preciousness of childhood must be commemorated. Such nostalgia begs I resist temptation to scour. And so, there are a few traces of "art" (the ones that make my lips curl up in a smile whether I like it or not every single time I see them) which I've declared shall remain.

 

For example...

 

 

(She just wanted to remind me of "how much she loves me" each time I look out the window where I stand and do dishes.

So...a surf wax heart, naturally. How can I argue with that?)

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God,
and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God."
1 John 4:7
 

 

(My current personal favorite memento of the LOVE within {and apparently upon} the walls of our home.

It welcomes me at the base of our stairs where we can't miss it each time we ascend {smile}.)

Choose LOVE...daily, this reminds me.

 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another:
just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another."
John 13:34
 

If these special visual inscriptions serve to remind me of the fleeting days of childhood...
and if I can loosen up enough to remember just how very much
I LOVE my little artists and that their scribbling days will soon pass

...then so be it!

 

Sure, I'll still instruct toddlers to refrain from artistic impulses with exhaustive monotony as long as supply demands.
And, I'll scour Crayola when they "forget". But for the sake of curled up smiles, growing in patience,
and cherishing childhood and all the joys that come with it, the LOVE "art" stays...it just does. :)

"But the fruit of the Spirit is LOVE."
Galatians 5:22

 

"And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us,

written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God,

not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts."
2 Corinthians 3:3