For those of you who were able to attend, I am confident that you enjoyed the Upper School Spring Art Show and Fine Arts Concert last week. The student artwork displayed in the chapel combined with the student performances in choir and band were outstanding. As I roamed through the chapel studying the art pieces, I marveled at the God-given talents of our students combined with the hard work that they had obviously put in to see these results. Then, when the concert began, those same thoughts came rushing back – WOW, these kids are good, and they sure must have worked hard to produce such beautiful music. This combination reminded me of a book that I have been working through by Tim Keller called, Every Good Endeavor. Allow me to briefly explain…
In the beginning (Gen 1-2), God created… and it was very good! Then, sin entered the world (Gen 3) and affected every part of creation. This included God’s curse on man (3:16-19). I am particularly fascinated by verse 18 that says, “…thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field”. The “thorns and thistles” will be those frustrations that make work difficult. We will probably not be as fruitful in our work as we would like. BUT, we will still “eat” – there will be fruit.
Keller talks about some who see only the thorns and thistles and become cynics. Then there are the idealists who believe that they are not affected by the thorns and thistles and that things should come easy. Both extremes are unhealthy, and even unbiblical. One causes us to avoid work because it won’t matter anyway. The other causes us to be overcome when a thorn interrupts because it isn’t supposed to be hard.
I am so glad that our art and music students (and Fine Arts teachers) understand the balance between the goodness of creation and the thorns/thistles that come with the fall. As they showed last week, they were willing to acknowledge their good gifts and then work around and through the thorns and thistles to see some fruit. The artwork was wonderful, but not perfect. There were a few missed notes. But, the fruits of their labors were a great blessing. If you were to look and listen really carefully, you would have had a glimpse of what God’s gifts can look like as the thorns and thistles are overcome. Thank you to our students and teachers for giving me that glimpse! It makes me really look forward to our Theater production of OLIVER on May 1 and 2. And, it makes me long for heaven when all of God’s gifts will be seen perfectly!
And, thank you to DR. John Furrow, for working very hard in and around many thorns in the pursuit of his EdD degree! Congratulations again! May God richly bless you with much fruit in spite of the thorns!