Pilgrim's Progress

Me & My Shadow #2

A second portrait (again using Poser 7) to complement yesterday's one. Take both portraits together, and it asks a question about relationships. How do two people really get to know each other, when part of them is in the light, and part is in shadow?

I'm not sure about your experience, but the journey towards knowing and being known in vulnerable relationships is much more challenging to than the journey into church leadership. I can float through the latter in professional mode.

But in good relationships, the masks have to come down sooner or later if we are to discover the one thing that matters most - intimacy - which I suspect is the one thing that most of us both desire and fear the most.

Me and My Shadow

This image came together in only a few minutes (using Poser) and it spoke to me right away. His face is partly lit and partly in shadow. Just like our real selves - some of it is known, some of it has yet to come to light and be seen for what it is.

I spent time with some friends today trying to answer some of my big life questions. Although I was trying to hard not to be impatient for answers and solutions, I couldn't help longing for things to click into place, because a lot seems to depend on it at the moment. But this process will not be rushed or hurried up. The journey into the truth about ourselves must happen gradually.

I am also convinced that the more we know God, the more we will come to know ourselves, since for the Christian, our lives are now hidden in him. So for now, I will seek to know him a little better, and just maybe, as I journey towards him, I might find some answers too.

"Your real new self will not come as long as you are looking for it.
It will come when you are looking for Him."
(C.S. Lewis)

Wait a minute ... ah yes, I have been here before (click here for previous post)!

The Unforced Rhythms of Grace

I love this phrase in Peterseon's translation of Matthew 11:28-31 ... "the unforced rhythms of grace". It sums up everything I long for this year - in my own life and the lives of people I know, my relationships, my serving others in a busy church, my dealings with people of any stage of faith.

Click on the image or the "new animation icon". (It requires Flash 6 or later, and it's about 443K)

Places I Hope To Find #1

I hope I discover a place like this one day. For now, it only exists in my mind (and with a little help from the usual art software, on screen too!).

For me, the image expresses a desire to find stillness in the thick of the inward and outward swirl of daily living.

What, if anything, does the image say to you?