Enquiringly he entered into the studio of this renowned sculptor, who was working briskly on a block of marble. The little boy was amazed when he saw this man striking this white cold marble with his chisel and hammer. He could not understand what he was doing. Why was he hitting the marble so hard? But being a timid boy, Edwin (this was the name of the boy) did not ask any questions. He just kept watching the artist chiselling and carving. Three weeks later he needed to return to the studio. This time he was even more stunned to see, instead of a huge block of white cold marble, a full-size gorgeous lion!
“How did you know that there was a lion hidden in that marble?” Edwin asked. The sculptor replied, “The lion in my heart saw the lion in the marble. And so I worked hard to release him”
This is the artist. The artist has a vision and he works so that this vision becomes a reality. Where you and I only see a chunk of cold marble, he sees a lion or the Pietà and he works to make this vision a reality.
God is an artist, The Artist. He has a colossal vision on each one of us and He is working so that this vision may be unfolded. Where we see only ugliness and uncertainty, He sees the image of His Son. And He gradually works to shape this image in us.
Sometimes He has to hit hard! The hammer and chisel are not the most gentle of tools! You might have a plan and God shatters it. And you feel upset and weep. It helps to remind yourself that these are only the blows of the hammer and the chisel in the hands of the Artist who is bringing out the beautiful image of his Son in you. They are blows of love…
“She was perhaps fifteen years old, black, skinny, wearing a weak smile… she died the most happy death I ever saw. Though I wasn’t her doctor, I knew that she had a very serious type of leukaemia. One night, while I was doing the last round before calling it a day, I heard some noises coming from her room. I peeped in and was amazed to see a party going on. Everyone, led by a priest, was singing. The girl in bed looked much better than I had seen her these past weeks. Good, I said to myself, the medications we are giving her, are working.
About an hour later, I met her mother in the corridor and I told her how happy I was that her daughter was improving. “My daughter told us that tonight she is going to die,” disclosed the mother calmly. “So we organised a party to give her our good bye and send her home to Jesus.”
I did not say anything, but walked away shaking my head disapprovingly to what her mother said. The laboratory results said the opposite of what the mother and the daughter were foreseeing. The girl, according to all medical records, was getting better.
That night the girl passed away very peacefully.”
God has a vision on you. He is working on it! Let him carve and fashion this dream in you.