Play in the sandbox!

"Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people, knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ." Colossians 3:23-24

I’m starting to love the freedom of watercolors. I literally feel like a little kid playing with paint when I use them. Remember that feeling as a kid playing in the sandbox? The excitement of using your imagination with nothing holding you back at all? It’s an incredible feeling. However, every time I have used them, I hear that voice in the back of my head telling me that I’m playing small. The end result isn’t some breathtaking, ready-to-hang canvas like it is with acrylics. No, instead, it’s a piece of paper that’s a little bent and rippled from the water. It feels like such a small offering. I’ve even felt like I’m holding back my ‘real gift’ and taking the ‘easy way out’. Sure I’m getting art done, but nothing of any substance...as if the fruit I’m bearing isn’t good enough when I’m doing a watercolor painting. It’s ridiculous...I know. But that voice is there nonetheless.

Then yesterday at church my Pastor addressed how sometimes we believe that God using us needs to be this huge, earth-shaking, kind of thing. As if we could never imagine that He would keep our ministry or our reach limited to just our own homes and ‘villages’. Surely we were made for more right? And I realized right then, I’M NOT PLAYING SMALL IF I’M BEING OBEDIENT TO A GOD WHO DOESN’T PLAY SMALL. It’s about HIM working THROUGH ME...It’s not about the painting or the kind of paint I use. It’s not about the subject matter of my paintings, and it’s not about the artist. It’s about MY OBEDIENCE and FAITH IN A GOD WHO NEVER FAILS. It’s about laying myself, my gift, and my life on the alter in front of Him so that He might use me, in any way He sees fit, TO BUILD HIS KINGDOM.

You see, He wants us using the gifts He’s given us...and He wants us to have joy in doing it. So that voice we hear? That voice that condemns you for enjoying ‘playing on the sandbox’ or ‘practicing’ with what He’s given you...that isn’t Him. He says so. Because there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). So I encourage you today...meet Him at the alter with what He’s given you. The size of the offering doesn’t matter...just the heart position from which we give it.