Inviting Hearts to See His Glory with Every Brushstroke

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I wrote this short poem to express the constant back and forth I feel in my mind about creating art. On the outside, they may just seem like every other "pretty picture" or just another thing for people to buy and consume, but I believe in my heart that creating them is one way that I can glorify God with the talents He has given me. I pray that they point back to Him through the words, scriptures, and prayers that I share along with them. My creativity and the beauty I create with my art is just the tiniest reflection of the beauty of the Creator of the heavens and earth.

I love this quote by C. S. Lewis about mistaking the beauty in this world from the real thing, Jesus Himself.

"The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing.

These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers.

For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited."

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"More than Paint"

A Short Poem By Shelby Leigh Kizer

As I paint, I hear the words --”It’s just paint on a canvas.”

How does this glorify You?

I make a sale, and I feel guilt. I don’t make a sale, and I feel like a failure.

How does this glorify You?

I see so many others who are better at this than me. The painting, the selling, the posting---all of it. I feel inadequate.

How does this glorify You?

I still keep trying.

Do I say too much or too little about You?

I feel like a hypocrite.

I know these feelings aren’t from You, but what is?

You always bring me back to what is true.

It’s not about me. It’s about You.

The paint on the canvas means nothing without You, but with You it tells a story about You through me.

And you don’t need me to carry out Your will, but You choose to use me anyway.

So I’ll continue to paint, until you tell me otherwise.

I know that everything is made holy by Your word and prayer.

So I‘ll pray, read Your word, paint and share all You’ve done.

You made me in Your image.

My creativity is no exception.

How could I not use it to glorify You?

It is my gift to glorify the Giver.

It is my gift to share the Gospel.

It is my gift from You and for You.

So how does this glorify You?

As I paint, I am reminded---”It is MORE than paint on a canvas.