Beverly Hills Art Show
Every year Beverly Hills hosts a free-to-the-public, outdoor art show. Hundreds of artists of all types of mediums come to display their work from oil painting, to watercolor, to mixed media, to photography and beyond. It is only one weekend (Saturday and Sunday). I saw an add for it, and wanted to go so I put it on my calendar.
Fast forward to the day of and I’m running behind. Ends at 6 PM and it’s already 4 PM. I won’t go, I almost convince myself, It's too late. But instead I decide to honor my own commitment. And I am so glad I did!
They had outdoor jazz, food vendors, and of course, the art. Swoon.
The reward was showing up. If it was an appointment I made with someone else, I would have “kept my word.” In this season, I am learning to honor my own word and desires even if only accountable to myself.
I believe doing so is spiritual, scriptural and even biblical. The more I walk with God and grow up in Him, they more I am reminded of the simple truth that one of the ways he communicates with us is through our own desires.
How?
As we walk with Him, we become more like Him. ("How can any two walk together unless they be agreed." -Amos 3:3).
A common self-help statement is to “Look at the top five people you spend the most time with and that tells you a lot about your life.” Or simply, who you spend the most time with, you become like. Facts.
As we chose to spend time with God, we become like Him— we start to like what He likes. Hate what He hates. Desire what He desires. And somehow in there is the mystery where He (as only the One who created us could) awakens the unique facets of our design and identity that He placed within before the foundations of the earth. Truly, we are his works of art, the works of His hands.
And eventually He directs us through those very desires.
Sometimes it leads us into major life decisions that impact our purpose and destiny.
Other times, it’s simply guiding us to the things that give pleasure to our soul... things we may have forgotten long ago, or never known at all.
Things like an outdoor art show on a Sunday afternoon.
Disclaimer: This is of course with balance :-) Some seasons are the fulfilling of the longings of the soul. Other seasons feel like Jesus in the garden pleading to the Father to please take this from me, this pain is too much to bear. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done. Someone told me they heard someone teach that if you are a Christian it is not God's will for you to suffer. That is unscriptural. I do not agree with that. Nor am I saying that God's will for us will always pleasurable to our soul.
With that being said, I am learning in this season that neither is God's will always repugnant either. There are seasons when His will is what makes us feel fulfilled. How do we discern the difference? Prayer, time with God, and absolute surrender.
I'm simply sharing from my experience here and not expressing complete theology. Hope this makes sense.