Once upon a time there was an artist who went out with his paintbrushes and a bottle of paint. He found a gray sidewalk, stooped down, and with one knee on the ground, opened the bottle and started to paint.
As he was painting, a car drove by. A passenger rolled down the window and yelled,
What a waste of time! See all these cars driving by too fast for anyone to see what you are doing! If you want to be seen, put your work on a billboard!
Then, he rolled up the window and they drove away.
But, the painter kept painting.
Then a bicyclist rode by, pausing for a moment to see what the man on his knees was up to.
It’s about to rain, he said to the artist, pointing at the dark clouds on the horizon, and all your hard work will be smeared and washed off, and nobody will ever see it… why bother at all?
And he pushed off and went away. But, the artist kept creating.
Then a jogger came, running in place as he watched the man with the brush.
Hey, dude, that’s cool! But, nobody will see it so small and against such gray background. It’s way too inconspicuous. You should have chosen brighter colors and bigger image so it would catch everyone’s attention.
And he ran off.
By now the artist was already done. The small black owl, with feathers unruffled, a tiny heart inside her chest, and a face aglow with joy seemed to wink at her creator. He smiled back at the owl, took the brushes and the paint and walked away.
What do you think…?
Why did the artist choose the owl as his subject?
Why did the artist choose a gray sidewalk for his background?
What made his work seem wasteful?
What made it meaningful?
Who do you relate best to the story? Why?
In what ways does the sidewalk artist resemble God?
2 comments:
I’m curious that you would elicit feedback. What prompted that? My initial impression is that I saw you as the artist and your writing as the subject since you don’t perceive a large audience for your blog. I can see the car driving by as those who have “encouraged” you to publish and it may feel like an attack. However, your writing is mainly for yourself and an expression of your relationship with God. What you post is sharing a part of yourself and it could serve as an encouragement to others, but it is only a part of what you are thinking.
Dear Anonymoyus,
Thank you for your feedback. I'll tell you a secret, but don't share it with anyone :-) - ALL my blog entries have the questions and invitation to engagement written at the end, but most of the time I write those with the invisible ink (now you also know that I love Harry Potter, but I think you already knew that)... Even though you are right about my writings being for myself mainly, my hidden (or maybe not so hidden) agenda is quite subversive :-)
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