Soul Stirrings

I recently had the gift of a few moments with friends that reminded me of how much we are created to know and be known by one another.

I was talking with a close friend one night. we were in the middle of nowhere on a crisp fall night. standing outside under a blanket of stars unlike anything i've seen in a long time. we were sharing stories of life, sharing pieces of our heart and soul. and on the surface there was nothing terribly extraordinary about it, but it was a beautiful reminder for me that a piece of what it means to be human is connect with each other in that way.

a few weeks later i was in the living room of a friend listening to him make beautiful music and i started sketching out some paintings. there was something about the way the music was stirring my soul that was related, a bit mysteriously, to the way i felt in my conversation under the stars. once again reminding me of what it is to know and be known.

this weekend i felt the stirring once more as i finally painted what i'd sketched that night. the result is a bit unlike what i usually create, and they aren't super great, but i love them a little bit. i love them because it was one of those times where my thoughts, my experiences, my feelings weren't quite complete until i made them. and there's was a spilling out of myself onto the canvas. and there's a piece of me in them.
and my soul was stirred yet again, because it's times like that in being an artist that i catch a glimpse of what I am to my Creator. He loves me because He made me. I am His image, a spilling out of Himself into me. beautiful.