He planned on a career in ministry, like his Calvinist father and others in the family. He even was a missionary for a short time. Sadly for Van Gogh, but to the enrichment of many, none of his ministry attempts worked out. In life, he was considered a madman and a failure. He couldn't keep a job. For the final few years of his life, he lived on a small allowance from his brother. On the positive side, though, the 2100 pieces of art he produced included 860 oil paintings.
So why is it I think he would understand? Because he had to face blank canvases.
Sometimes you find yourself facing a blank. If writing, that may be a blank page. If painting, that may be a blank canvas. Or, for most of us, it just may be that spot we sometimes come to where we just don't know what to do next. Whether you call it writers block, or painters block (or whatever painters call it), or just decision block, it comes down to the same thing ... not making a commitment.
You didn't expect that, did you?
You thought I was going to say "fear" or "confusion," or something about lacking confidence; maybe make an appeal to a muse. True, there are always challenges to be faced, but the root problem is one of commitment. I love what Van Gogh said about it:
"Many painters are afraid in front of the blank canvas, but the blank canvas is afraid of the real, passionate painter who dares and who has broken the spell of “you can’t” once and for all. Life itself, too, is forever turning an infinitely vacant, dispiriting blank side towards man on which nothing appears, any more than it does on a blank canvas. But no matter how vacant and vain, how dead life may appear to be, the man of faith, of energy, of warmth, who knows something, will not be put off so easily."
I chose to write about Van Gogh, today, because, faced with a blank canvas ... he started painting. He believed action was better than inaction, that it would lead him, eventually, to the painting he wanted to produce. And I chose Van Gogh because, despite all of his successes and failures, despite his rejection of formal religion, and despite his mental illness, he continued to consider Jesus central to his life.
That was a commitment he never relinquished.
When you read this week's Lectionary scriptures, you will find they have common threads running through them: being true to God, being humble, giving to the needy ("...the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind."), consoling the imprisioned, doing good at every opportunity.
In his art, Van Gogh faced down the blanks he encountered by taking action. We can do the same with our faith walks. We don't have to wait for inspiration to strike us, for a visitation from some muse, or even an ideal meteorological condition; we can just start. Someday, we will look back and see a path where we had only seen a blank when we first walked it.
There is much to do. So, slap some paint on that canvas and get going.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 17 (22) (August 28, 2016)
Jeremiah 2:4-13
Psalm 81:1, 10-16
Proverbs 25:6-7
Psalm 112
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Luke 14:1, 7-14
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Join us for great food, interesting discussions, and a time in the scriptures. Lectionary Breakfast meets Friday mornings at 8:00 at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant. We wrap up around 9:00.
Blessings,
Steve
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