The Source of Inner Strength

 

The Source of Inner Strength

 

“Brenda had spent the last twenty years nursing her abusive husband after he was paralyzed in an accident while driving under the influence of alcohol. Yet she never complained, she never was bitter. She had so much inner strength.”

“Karl faithfully continued as a country doctor for years and years. Getting up at all hours delivering babies or attending accident victims. He could have moved to the city and be much better off financially, and with less working hours. Why didn’t he? He had so much inner strength.“

Such statements, we hear frequently, we admire the people who find the inner strength to swim against the stream of the popular ‘me first’ opinion. Not for them throwing in the towel, not for them giving up or going away; not for them self-pity or self-imposed martyrdom. Not for them ugly lines of bitterness in their faces. Lines there are, for sure, they are lines of caring, of concern and even sadness but never lines of being a doormat.

When we speak of inner strength we express recognition of something positive, even something rare. What is it? This inner strength? Where does it come from? How can we obtain it, that is, if we even want it, for it comes at a price.

In today’s predominately New Age worldview we hear much about positive thinking, about finding oneself, or the phrase ‘I can do anything if I truly want it.’ In other words, if you haven’t got it, don’t complain.

It is human nature to be self-centered and striving for more or better things or situations. Self-help books and expensive seminars want to teach us how to ‘improve ourselves’. Eastern and other religions tell us to ‘still your mind’ and all will fall into place but in the final account it is up to each one of us to cope as best we can.

Where do we get inner strength? Yoga meditation may make you calmer but taken to its logical conclusions there is hopelessness and only reincarnation to another life cycle over and over again until final Nirvana (nothingness). So why bother in the first place?

Or gaining strength from the New Age spirit world? A dangerous undertaking because evil spirits do exist and mean to harm us. Without the protection of God we have no resistance and we are at their mercy. They have no intention to give us true inner strength, rather they generate selfishness and hatred.

True inner strength has a beauty we never find in a person dabbling in the occult because such strength is free from fear. It doesn’t need to know the future. The man or woman with true inner strength is not passively resigned to a situation but embraces it purposefully. They look to Jesus Christ as their greatest source of strength because he has gone that path before. Since he is eternal God his river of living water gives unlimited inner strength. There is no fear of exhaustion, of running dry.

The reason why we see goodness and deep peace in people like Brenda and Karl is that they receive their inner strength directly from their daily communication with God. Moreover, they do not stem the flow for selfish reason but are content to let it run through them to those in their environment. They need not fear it ever ceasing.

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Lissa's Wish.

Here is a little true Story you may like to read:

 

Lissa’s Wish

“Please, Oma, may I go into the garden?” five-year old Lissa asked her grandmother.

“Of course, go on, enjoy yourself, “Oma answered.

Lissa flew out the backdoor, her pigtails bouncing, she skipped down the steps, across the concrete yard into her beloved garden. First she stopped by the Pansies surrounding the Sun Lawn, and said ‘Good Morning’ to her favourites, the deep purple ones with the golden faces.

Lissa had called this soft-green lawn the Sun Lawn because it was large and round. Just behind this she now balanced along the stone borders of the Moon Lawn which was sickle shaped and during spring the many white daisies were almost covered by the golden petals of the Laburnum tree leaning above it. The Moon Lawn half encircled the path around the large rose bed. Lissa stopped and bend over one of the last roses of the season. Oh, how sweet it’s perfume!

She walked on through the low dividing box hedge to the vegetables. Oh yes, she knew them all, her secret friends: the Brussels Sprouts were still too young to talk to her but the red Tomatoes told her that the whole bunch had quite a good party the night before, after all, they belong to the family of night shades. The big strong beans on their stakes expressed their indignation about this nightly reveling but Lissa only laughed and told the beans they should not be so stuffy. The peas still slept in their communal beds, just like Lissa when she visited her cousins and had to snuggle up in bed with several others. She threw them a kiss and walked on to the rockery and the two large, old pear trees. The rockery was to her like a fairytale book. So many different plants close together, each telling their part of a story. The Wallpepper with its golden, wormlike flowers was rough to the touch but got on well with the velvety, silver Lambs Tongues. They complimented each other and Lissa could see how they enjoyed each other’s company. The white Snow in Summer was still spreading its many small flowers over the grey rocks and pink ones were nestling in the crevices. Lissa sat down on a rock for a while and soon a small lizard shared with her the warming rays of the sun. As she looked up at the tall pear tree, she remembered when she had danced there, thinking herself a little fairy as a gently wind showered her with white petals from the pear blossoms.

Now, in autumn most of the pears had been harvested but Lissa saw one last golden one hanging at the tip of the highest branch.

“OH, I wish I could have that pear, “she said, and then it happened. A rustle, the pear broke loose and SPLASH fell down, straight onto one of the big rocks and broke in thousand pieces.   Wishes do come true but not always the way we imagine!

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Art as Communication

 

Art as Communication

 Elisabeth Puruto

 

For the sake of simplicity masculine personal pronouns only are used. This is in no way meant as prejudice towards female artists.

 

Artists are communicators. There are very few artists who want to keep the products of their creative minds and hands to themselves. They may prefer to work in a solitary environment because it furthers concentration and development of thoughts and ideas but when the painting, the sculpture, the wall hanging or the story has been finished it needs to be shared with others in order to convey the message or messages embedded in it.

Consider visual arts.  Have you ever thought about the variety of expressions possible? The art galleries and museums of the world are filled with millions of paintings, sculptures and other expressions of visual communication. And yet – are there ever two items exactly the same? Even by the same artist? How amazingly varied are the expressions in visual art!

In almost all instances the artist wants to convey a particular thought, an idea, a feeling to those who will be seeing his work. Not all who look at a painting perceive what the artist wanted to express, and a psychologist may say that the artist himself does not always know what he wants to say through his work. Symbols, colour combinations and shapes can arise out of our subconscious and take on visible dimensions. Even if the viewer knows nothing about the artist he cannot escape the overall mood of a painting. Bright colours lift the spirit, dark ones convey a somber feeling or even depression but these impressions can be influenced by adjacent colours and shapes, by juxtaposition of light and dark or the use of complimentary colours.

Shapes alone can convey a restful feeling or rapid movement even though the lines on the canvas are frozen in space and time.  And when I look at a sculpture I want to touch it, I want to experience that third dimension of communication – its depth. I remember an exhibition of

works by the Swiss sculptor Hans Arp, who, similar to Henry Moore, but on a smaller scale produced beautifully rounded, smooth, shiny forms and figures. A sign in the museum forbade touching the exhibits but like a child, I was drawn to touch them to make my enjoyment of these masterful shapes complete.

When we see a two-dimensional work of art we may be content to feast our eyes on it but a three-dimensional work asks to be explored in all the dimensions in which it was perceived. Its form, its solidity as well as its surface texture.

In this way the observer somehow responds to the artist’s choice of subject by answering his invitation to communicate.

Art can also communicate a powerful healing effect on the viewer, who may be calmed by looking at a relaxing scene, rejuvenated by viewing a lively dance of happy children in a meadow, or consoled by a picture of the prodigal son being received by his father. But often, though not always, the greater healing occurs in the artist himself when releasing sorrow, pain, hurt, fear or other stressful emotions into a creative outlet. The result is not always a disturbing or sorrowful work of art. I know from my own experience that in times of great difficulties the simple act of creating something with my hands brought back joy and self-esteem. First, there was the meditative influence of perceiving in my mind a piece of art, then the concentration in making it and finally communicating the finished work to others by showing it to them and receiving a positive reply.  Many people discovered their hitherto hidden talent for creative work during times of distress.

Working in the mission field with mentally and physically handicapped children in Bangkok I saw to my amazement how not only language barriers but also basic communication barriers were overcome by allowing these children to use paper and colour pencils. Not all were equally ‘talented’ but they all came out of their shell and definitely wanted to share what they had created. Their self-esteem rose and they began to smile and respond.

As in verbal communication, so visual art requires honesty by the ‘sender’ and “receiver’, the artist and the viewer, to establish successful communication, otherwise the artist creates ‘hollow’ images that do not touch the soul of the viewer. The artist has to give a part of himself into his creation that is also the reason why hand-crafted items are valued higher than similar mass produced things, even when the latter are more ‘perfect’. That’s why

paintings by numbers and tracings are no more than exercise pieces. The artist has to think, and sometimes agonize, over his work like a writer over a poem or a novel; the technique may become easier in time but the content always demands honest expression.

The viewer, too, needs to be honest, allowing the work of art to touch what it wants to touch – or walk away. It is perfectly legitimate to walk away from an artistic expression, like from any other communication, if we feel insulted or if we really do not understand the language of it but it would be dishonest to pretend overwhelming interest and arousal of feelings when there is none.

Communication is a two-way process in visual art as well as in a spoken or written way.

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