The Work of Masterpieces

I am an educator by trade and calling. Most people assumed I would become a professional artist. In my way, I like to think I am both. People seem to enjoy my work; that satisfies my artistic aspirations. In my profession, as a teacher, I strive daily to be the imaginative artist in the classroom people tell me I am with my paintings. It is a much more complicated canvas dealing with the human construct. 

As children, we have so many aspirations. Time wears some away, and for others drags them into the abyss of trying to survive a harsh life. I have had my share of pings and knocks, but all things considered. I still consider life a great masterpiece. No one sits down and on the first swish of a brush creates perfection. What makes an artist's work special is not how perfectly each stroke is achieved, but how each stroke is uniquely and completely his/her own. A work that can never be truly recreated by another. A unique vision that is the signature of a Master artisan at work. No computer program or technological wonder can repeat it because it will always require soul, spirit, and dedication- a lifetime commitment to something more than oneself. It is a faith in something higher. 

Personally, I have never achieved anything close to that moment of ultimate mastery; not in the realm of my painting and never in the classroom. But, so far, I have persevered. I am still being made and remade into what I am ultimately supposed to be in the end- God's finished artwork. Something that we all are being carved into in our own way. And, yes, the process, all of it, can be tedious, painful, hilarious, a privilege, frustrating, and so many other things that words cannot encompass I know, its worth. I see it every day in the faces of my kids.  

Anatole France said," The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of the mind for the purpose of satisfying it afterward.” And, I agree. I hope each day that when my students leave- they leave curious, but in some way more solid in their understanding of what they can be, and confident in their hope of becoming more than they ever thought possible. If that happens, then I have achieved more in my life than any great work hanging on any wall. 

So each day, I begin again, sometimes with a picture, other days reaching into a child's life and helping them hopefully to grow stronger. I consider myself an aspiring artist at work. After all, we only get one chance to make any true mark. So, if anything truly matters in this world, we should help make it matter to those around us. And what should matter more to us than our children? They truly are the greatest masterpiece we can ever hope to make be we artist, teacher, parent, or village. Peace.