souldare

Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul!

(Psalm 146:1 NKJV)

Some days, all I want to say is “I love you, LORD!” Some days, praising the LORD can be difficult.

When I think of worship, it’s often in the context of singing songs and hymns at church. On Monday, I worshipped with some musicians, who were glorifying GOD with their gifts of music. One happened to be our son, who writes humorous lyrics and catchy melodies.

The other group was from a church called August Gate, and they had composed songs for a sermon series on the book of Colossians.

Worship can happen in various settings. Alone or in a group. In a building or outdoors. And mostly it’s an attitude of heart.

Brother Lawrence made worship his aim:

“That the end we ought to propose to ourselves is to become, in this life, the most perfect worshippers of GOD we can possibly be, as we hope to be through all eternity.”

As I read this quote again, I am struck by a common mistake that happens when I think about worship. My question often goes like this, “What is worship?”

But Brother Lawrence seems to be answering a better question, “Who will I worship?” He challenges us to practice now, to be well-versed in worshipping GOD for “all eternity” in our present day lives.

When I am working on a collage, sometimes I’m aware of GOD, and offer my process and work to Him. Other times, I may not be conscious of GOD, but  my heart desire is to be loving GOD in all that I do.

My work today, became a metaphor for the concentration required for worship and the effort needed for love.

I started out this morning with a clear vision. I had two images of baguettes that became the letter “L”, a light fixture that looked like an “O”, and colorful backdrop that I could cut into a “V”, and some Scriptures from John 15, which I fashioned into an “E”.

Here’s how it started out:

To be honest, I wish I would have left it alone, because I liked the swirling dress and seeds and plant growing amongst the “E”. I left it for a while to go teach an art class.

I came back and added color with some oil pastels, and outlined the letters in black. It really was not working for me. I removed some of the dancing scene, and finally covered the whole background in yellow paint and glitter. Outlined the letters in black again, and a big yellow spot was staring at me.

I decided to stamp a peacock feather or two or three, or maybe too many.

I can’t say I love this collage, but I do know that I perservered until I was happier, because I wanted it to be pleasing to the eye. It was in the process today that I met GOD.

I confessed to Him how hard it can be to express just exactly, how I feel. That my attempts to love Him and others seem awkward at times or fall flat.

In the end, the message of LOVE shines through.

How did you say, “I love you, LORD!” today?