Michelangelo | itsawonderfilledlife

Posts Tagged ‘Michelangelo’

What I Learned from Michelangelo

Posted in WONDER, tagged #italy, art, art-history, Michelangelo, travel on September 15, 2024| 1 Comment »

One of the beauties of working in a Christian high school is that we start the day with devotions. Each teacher does this differently, which is an unpredictable benefit, as well, as each teacher brings faith into the classroom from their vantage point.

Last week, in an art class, the teacher began his devotions speaking of the art and poetry, of Michelangelo. Until then, I was unaware that this well known artist’s ‘other’ talent and was quite captivated by the following poem.

On the Brink of Death
Now hath my life across a stormy sea
Like a frail bark reached that wide port where all
Are bidden, ere the final reckoning fall
Of good and evil for eternity.
Now know I well how that fond phantasy
Which made my soul the worshipper and thrall
Of earthly art, is vain; how criminal
Is that which all men seek unwillingly.
Those amorous thoughts which were so lightly dressed,
What are they when the double death is nigh?
The one I know for sure, the other dread.
Painting nor sculpture now can lull to rest
My soul that turns to His great love on high,
Whose arms to clasp us on the cross were spread.

Written in the later years of his life, On the Brink of Death, speaks to Michelangelo's awareness of his coming end, reprioritizing of what makes up his life and what is to come.

The lines that grabbed me were, 

"painting nor sculpture 
now can lull to rest 
my soul  ..."

Ahhh! That which, in this life calms (or lulls to rest) my soul ...

I think his words settled on my heart because, 

At the end of each summer school/work break ... 

a break from 'people' work ... 
a break when I immerse myself in 'hand' work ...

as I put away my paint brushes, my hammers, my power tools and caulking guns ...

I always sigh to myself, knowing that my hands-on creative season is over. I have to comfort myself with the belief that is was enough to carry me through the months ahead. 

But, I can also know and say (as that famous creative),

(my soul) "turns to His great love on high"

And in Him, in his love, my creative soul can find rest and purpose.

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In the Image of the Creator

Posted in life, The Kids, WONDER, tagged Creator, Daughter, Delight, Genesis 1:27, image, image of the creator, in his own image, in the image of God, Michelangelo, mine, mirror image, photos, reflection, school pictures, Son, you are good on October 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »

It’s that time of year again … School picture time!

These are the photos that, no matter how nice the clothes, no matter how clean the hair, no matter how rested you feel the photos will always look worse than the year before. But maybe I am just speaking of my own experience!

When my two school-aged kids brought theirs home, I looked at them not as the one who had them taken, but as their mom.

When I looked at the photo of my son, I saw the baby we had prayed would make it through pregnancy, the one who used to want a snuggle after school, the one who says ‘I love you’ every day. I saw a young man who loves football, his dad, his friends, his music and God. I saw it all in the blink of an eye and thought, this is good, oh, how he has grown to be like his dad!

Then I looked at the photo of my youngest daughter, and I saw the baby who did not stop crying until she was two years old, I saw the toddler who wanted a play date plan before her eyes were opened every morning, I saw the girl who knew how to make people smile, and who never sees differences when she meets someone new. I saw a beautiful young woman who loves people of all ages, animals, thinking about the future and her Heavenly Father. I saw it all and thought, this is good, I can see me in those eyes.

It took me back to when her grade two pictures came home, and then and there I saw within this child who everyone said looked just like her dad (including me), a reflection of me. For all those first seven years of her life I figured I had merely been the vessel that got her here, but that day I saw something of myself in her image. Actually it was almost a mirror image of my own school photo at the same age.

I remember so well looking at her photo that day and searching for my own to compare my memory with the reality of looking at her photo and mine. Once I found it, the similarities were astounding to me. This child, this child who I thought my only contribution to her being was in housing her growing unborn body, looked so strikingly like me. I stared in amazement and although I had always looked upon her image as beautiful, now I looked upon her image with awe, and with a new joy. She reflected me! She was undeniably mine!

My daughter has always been, since conception, an image of me, but there was something about seeing it with my own eyes that gave me delight.

I wonder if that is what God feels (delight) when He looks at us, His children. We have always been, since the beginning of time, an image of our Creator, but He sees Himself in us when we reflect who He is, His love, His mercy, His grace, His compassion. And when He sees, not only the physical reflection of His image, but the reflection of His being, His heart, He, like me with my daughter, delights in His Creation. And maybe He whispers, “you are good” as He did after each act of Creation.