A Work Of Art

God's Painting

Luke 3:22 "And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased."

A Work of Art

I'm going to go out on a limb here and call myself a work of art. As a matter of fact, each and every one of us is a masterpiece in our own right. When we were created, we were not painted by the kindergarten class with our non-toxic paints and fat paintbrushes. We were crafted by a Master artist with the finest paints and brushes and we, each and every one of us, were painted by an artist better than Michelangelo!

You see, when we were forming in the womb, God had a plan for his piece of art. It took him nine months to create the perfection He saw in us. He didn't just blink us into existence like a genie, no He masterfully created each and every brushstroke of our life and when we were born, He already saw the finished fulfilled work of art in its completion to the end, hanging in the Sistine Chapel. 

He looked at us and it was good! He knew every brushstroke our life would take. He knew the perfections and imperfections because He saw us up close and personal, not from the marble floor below. No, your mother, father and everyone else saw you from below the art. They gazed at you and saw a tiny infant seemingly perfect. As you grew, people saw you and studied you as a piece of art and came to a conclusion of what they perceived. But to God, you were still a masterful work of art in progress. 

If you say that God makes no mistakes, you'd be correct in your assumption. The imperfections I referred to was our free will. You see Adam and Eve were made perfect! A completely perfect work of art finished and drying in the sun. Free will was the last brushstroke in giving us a chance to assist with the painting. The reason we're not the creating artists is that we botch the job. Our free will leads us to the imperfections of our life, all of which God saw in advance when creating you but he is not in control of our free will.

I knew as I got to this point in my life I had done a bang-up job of this masterpiece. I didn't handle the brush with the gentleness and care of the Master artist. Not that I turned Michelangelo's work into a Picasso but I think sometimes I turned it into an Andy Warhol meaningless jumble of paint. But I digress, I'm still in the planning stages so the brush hasn't been whisked out of my hand yet. God sees a Van Gogh in me; a little loose around the edges but awaiting perfection.

I now see this illness as a chance to complete what was a little messed up. My mind, my body, my soul all are taking a little tender care of the flamboyant brush strokes that I let onto the canvas; I'm no intense chapel in the making, and definitely not in Vatican City. These illnesses I'm being faced with are all a part of the whimsical flinging of the paint onto a blank canvas, I'm now in the process of making some sense out of what I want this painting to be. I want people to look at me as a work of art, not perfect but worth looking at for hours on end trying to sum up a conclusion of what they see and are going to walk away with.

Each day I wake, after thanking the Lord for another day to open my eyes and gaze at the canvas, I stare in awe of what has the potential to be a worthy piece of artwork! My writing, my healing, my poetry, my muse all are forming an exquisite piece of artwork ready to be hung in a gallery among the greatest artists who ever lived. 

I'm not standing here and proudly boasting of a swelled ego, I am an artist sharing with you my vision of just where this completed work will stand in the end. The gates of heaven have the potential to be open for me and the gallery of brilliant colors of a reflected prism are at my fingertips. I am a light-bearer, I am a shepherd, I am not here to tell you where you've gone wrong, I'm here to tell you what went right. You were born! You were created by a Masterful artist that saw all of your potentials and now it is time for you to take control of the brush and complete the painting that was begun when you were born.

We've all made mistakes! And if you're over the half-century mark, you are now in the final stages of completing your masterpiece. Are you going to finish up by botching up the canvas? Or are you going to make the necessary changes that need to take place to see you too entering the gates of heaven, or do you even care and are just happily strolling along in life not caring where this journey ends? My friends, take care of the work of art that is you. God did all the hard work and now He hands you the brush to take care of the finished product that will hang on the walls of Heavens gallery someday.

May the blessings of the Lord our God be with you today and always!

Poetry Sunday ~ In The Day

"The worst lies are the ones we tell ourselves. The worst verbal abuse comes from our own tongue. The most negative influence is the devil on our own shoulder. The cruelest judge is the one staring back in the mirror. The person really withholding the love you need is you. No one will ever out-do you at your own mind-games. You must stop doing this to yourself!"  ~ Bryant McGill

Pss. 37:30 “The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.”

In the Day

Praise the Father, Praise the Son,

Praise the great and Holy one.

In the day when no love shines

The haughty man will rise

Holding there within his hand

The truth behind his lies.

In the day when people think

That wisdom comes from shores

It sails along the currents feed

Right into open doors.

In the day when man is fooled

By fancy ways of talking

Finding face with a false god

A feeble form of walking.

In the day when man can serve

Two masters in his pride

Humanity will surely fall

And nowhere can man hide.

In the day when man can love

Relinquish earthly hate

Walk along the path with Christ

And enter Heavens gate.

Praise the Father, Praise the Son,

Praise the Great and Holy One.

Pss. 111:10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.”

Poetry Sunday ~ The Wonder of Wonders

Gen 9:13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
***

The Wonder of Wonders
(c) Joni Zipp
***
The wonder of wonders
of the night
the stars are still
the moon is bright.

The wonder of wonders
of the sky
if only we knew
the answers to why.

The wonder of wonders
of hidden meaning
take it all in
as one who is gleaning.

The wonder of wonders
the master has spoken
I give you the rainbow
as a token!

All rights reserved: copyright © Joni  Zipp

Master Plan: part II

Gen 1: 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
***

Well yesterday’s post got a lot of positive responses with the folk over at facebook who I share some of my work here with. :) So today I’m going to write about another master plan and that’s the one you’ll need to write a story.

Whether it is a short story or a novel, you will need a master plan. Not much unlike God’s plan for our lives and all He did to create the universe, our writing needs to shape up just as if we were the Creator himself. We are in essence a god to our characters because we are the creator of our intricate stories. They look to us to feed them and nourish them.

What will we need? We will need to breathe life into a character. Allow the person to shape a world. Make a mountain out of a molehill. Give your character a place to live and play. Give them a strong name. I think Mike and John are overdone. Choose something unique so that your reader will be walking around with the name on their tongue as if they just bit into an m&m or something. Like Odd Thomas, the name is quirky, but it clings to you like gumdrops to the roof of your mouth.

We’ll also need a help mate to carry the story along. Male or female, this character is necessary in creating scenes within this bubble. Allow them exploration of the world you’re creating. Give them full reign of the playground but withhold the ‘tree of life’ from them. As they explore and find the tree, perhaps the antagonist will lure them away with a good conflict that will bring your story to new heights.

An antagonist will surely add to the story to fill in all the juicy parts. Think satan running rampant and wreaking havoc on the earth. Surely your Adam and Eve will be finding new life, discovering new things but they’ll also be tempted to do the wrong thing in this right world that you’ve created.

Now that you’ve had the seed planted, don’t take seven days to create your world, take 30. An entire month of 2000 words a day. Don’t spell check and edit as you go, create! Do you think the Lord stopped on day one and said, “Now let me think, I gave Adam a backbone, but I don’t like it, delete?” No, he kept on creating, and when He had finished, Genesis 1: 31 “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.”
 
Write the entire month, no edits, no looking back. Create a masterpiece that the human race will look back on and one day say, “This is very good!”

Master Plan

Job: 14:9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.
***

Have you ever prayed and the prayer not been answered immediately when you wanted it to be answered. Did you ever wonder why? Here lately things have been happening, all part of a Master Plan.

First of all, beau lost his job in Sept. of 2008, we prayed and prayed. Beau went blind about eight months later. More prayer. I could feel the tides moving, shifting, swaying. I could feel the power of prayer working and the good Lord swirling his answer to our prayer into our lives. No one else could feel it as I watched doubt sweep many. I sat, patiently waiting as I know a Master Plan takes time, sometimes years to get it all into the whirlpool to spew out results.

There were many changes that had to take place, inside and outside. There was construction of a new person, there was re-shaping of minds, there was miracles being displayed. But I’m telling you, if you’re not a believer, to you it all looked like a case of bad luck.

I don’t believe in luck or coincidence, so I prayed, rejoiced, praised and felt the earth moving in a direction that swayed my inner soul. I watched as impatience sweltered, looked sorrowfully as some strayed from their faith, sat in awe of the wondrous work of a living rainbow take shape. I never lost my faith once because I know the secret of the Master Plan. It’s no secret really if you know the Lord. Master Plans take TIME!

You see, when you pray, God already knows the answer to the prayer but he really wants to get the full throttle of effectiveness out of the prayer. He wants to not only answer your prayer, He wants to change as many people as He can along the way. He wants to lay a hand on everyone possible so they see the beauty of prayer and the wonderful Glory of, a Master Plan!

As beau, Adam and I had to move, figure out where to go and what to do, jumped over hurdles, figure out a few techniques and made the enormous leap of our lives, that is the leap into Gods arms, knowing He’d carry us, we’re now still reaping the benefits of the Master Plan!

I look down the gravel path and see many faces, lives altered by everything that we’ve gone through. All of our actions and reactions are all a part of the Master Plan. Is it just us three who are being transformed? No way. Many peoples lives are being touched. If you are reading this, you my friend are not exempt, you too are a part of the plan! Feel it, embrace it, know it is bigger than you and I!

It’s not about ME, me, me, or you, or my beau. We’re just instruments; a part of an orchestra that plays in Heaven and the music is divine to my ears and the Master’s. His plan, His time, His Glory!

Fuzzy Friday

Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
***

I say fuzzy because I sit in amazement at society. They embrace the Twilight series as gospel, and are overlooking the message that God gave. Man can not serve two masters.
Meaning you can’t serve God, and accept the evil that wants to filter in through many different avenues.

Someone posted about the ‘dislike’ of this very topic, and the Christians came out in force defending the ‘entertainment’ that they were allowed because God don’t care what they watch or read.

From Eleanor*: Free Will. At the end of the day, if I am a good person, kind to others, believe in a Higher Power, I know in my heart that Jesus/God doesn't mind what I watch or read for entertainment. And that is how I rest my head at night in peace. Forgiveness and tolerance is the greatest gift HE gave.
 

Luke* responded: Forgiveness and Tolerance.... hmmmm... Was it tolerance he showed to the money changers, desecrating the house of his Father? Forgiveness was his gift at the cross, but every time Jesus encountered someone trapped in sin and offered his forgiveness, it was followed with the command- "Go and sin no more."
We have ALL sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God, and yes, we can approach him after every fall, every stumble- but there is nowhere I read where it says "you are forgiven so that you may go chase after sin" and I'd prefer someone to enlighten me where that is, if it exists.
Furthermore trying to justify a movie by the existence of other movies is like saying that cheating is OK because there's an abundance of cheating and lying in movies and TV. Granted, sinners are everywhere, but there are those who are in it to seek it and those on their way out. Where shall we find ourselves when we get that call?
 

Theodora* wrote: We as Christians are called and commanded to be the examples to others...In Ephesians 4: 17-27 we are instructed...by the apostle Paul"So i tell you this , and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated for the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity with a continual lust for more. vs 20 You however did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him, were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus, You were taught with regards to your former way of life TO PUT OFF YOUR OLD SELF, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; To be made NEW in the ATTITUDES OF YOUR MINDS and to PUT ON THE NEW SELF created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness"

Paul goes on in Ephesians 5:-17 to instruct us further "For you were once dankness, but now you are LIGHT in the world. Live as children of the light (for the fruit of the light consist in all goodness, righteousness, and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them .For it is shameful to even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible. This is why it is said: "wake up O sleeper rise from the dead
and Christ will shine on you."
Be very careful then how you live- not as unwise but as wise making the most of every opportunity because the days are very evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but UNDERSTAND WHAT THE LORD'S WILL IS.

This went of for 57 replies! People are really waking up to God’s call. I’m just wondering if they are hearing or justifying their actions? I need no responses...I’ll walk around in the fuzz.

 

John 10: 21 Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?

*names changed to respect the author's

Point of View

This week is point of view or POV for short. You want my point of view about the state of this country? I’ll gladly give it to you. Oh, that’s not the POV you want to hear about is it; you want the POV in writing.

Recently I have noticed the biggest problem for new writer’s is not getting the story out, it is keeping the story consistent.

Consistency in POV and consistency with tenses. Sure I see alot of grammatical issues being tossed out there as a new writer, but POV is one tough element of the craft that needs to be honed and mastered.

Mastering the POV will help in keeping the work consistent.

We at f2k, have an exercise this week in POV and when asked to shift pov, alot of people will write the same exact paragraph and switch the POV from “He said” to “I said”. To me, shifting the point of view changes the perspective and the ‘who’ is seeing what and from whose point of view.

Here’s an example of something I’m working on: Two pov’s and different perspectives arise.

POV 1 ~ First person
As I hover over my lifeless body lying below me, I wonder where I am. The aroma of a fresh garden surrounds me making me feel like a weightless cloud. I want to yell down to myself, but I can’t seem to communicate from here. I walk slowly toward the endless portal that awaits me. I float like a feather on an endless air drifting into the unknown. No claps of thunder, no bolts of lightning, just eerie warmth surrounds me. A gravitational pull sucks me like a huge non-existent vacuum of space and time. I turn away from the light and try in a motionless effort to reclaim the body I left. Suddenly, I awaken to the trickle of an ice cold shower that releases me from the warm safe haven. I scan the bathroom and wonder how on earth did I get in here?

POV2 ~ Third person
Look at her, a lifeless form in need of assistance. She has left her body only to discover the realm of the unknown. The bright light that has hold of her won’t let her go. She can wriggle and worm all she wants but it is pulling with an endless flux of gravity. She knows this is the end of the line, the place she’s heard about but never wanted to be at the cusp of her youth. She's grappling with fear yet releasing herself without a fight, letting herself drift into the aromatic garden that waits. As moments pass, time is of the essence.
She needs to be revived; it’s not her time. Wait; look; she’s in bathroom shower. How on earth did she get there?

The same paragraph but from different perspectives, and two different pov’s. This shift sometimes confuses new writer’s because they can’t see from anyone elses eyes. They are looking at the paragraph and thinking they need to write the exact same words but change *I* into *She*. When I shift pov, I see from someone else eyes.

I think we need to look at perspective as much as POV. Work on the POV, sifting through all the knowledge you can and try this exercise from a writers POV and I can bet you’re perspective will change too. You’ll be seeing through different eyes in no time.

Now get moving, Write Right!

A Power to Writing?

Dissecting your writing?

Are you the kind of writer who dissects every word? Do you find yourself not enjoying writing because of the nit-picking that you’re doing?

I’ve seen people take a sentence and rip it apart until it is perfect to their eyes. There is a course called Masterful Sentences and I just can’t find myself taking that class. I mean is there really a MASTERFUL sentence? Do you think all of the Master writer’s before us took this course, you know to make sure their work was perfect?

I don’t think so. I think one can put too much time into mastering the perfect sentence all the way down to the point of not finding a natural rhythm and flow to their writing. Something is lost along the way when your eye keeps picking out the wrong adjective or adverb or lazy modifier.

As writer’s we are in a state of wanting to get the story out and on paper. Type, type, type,click click goes the keyboard sounding like rain on a tin roof. We get the story out in a storm of words then it’s time for revisions. Now is the time to dissect your words. BUT and this is a major but, do you want to pick the story apart, sentence for sentence word for word and make it as perfect as you can? Sure you do.

Are you going to dissect it at a workshop and have everyone point out your weak modifiers? Poor use of adverbs? Sloppy use of an adjective? Did you write your story with the reader in mind or the grammar queen in mind who is going to read and dissect instead of enjoying the story?

I write a story so everyone can enjoy the flow of the words that feel right to them. Sure grammar usage is important but I really don’t want to lose the flow or the natural rhythm that I have going. I love writing! I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t write. But to think of dissecting my writing making it so illegible that not even I can recognize it as my own makes me cringe at writing. It literally causes me NOT to write which kind of scares me because it is something I love doing.

I write a lot of poetry. Now hand it to the pro’s in a workshop they can find words that are too redundant, they can find words that sound too forced, or they can pick a pair of alliterative words and say they don’t work. Change any one of those words and the poem loses its rhythm. It loses the heart and soul which once again, scares me. I won’t write a poem to be dissected. If it doesn’t have the iambic meter that your looking for then don’t read my poetry.

Now if you’re going to read my words because they touch you or make you feel something deep inside, then my writing is for you. Continue reading my friend.