Gesso
by Lexie Shaunak on Saturday, January 29, 2011 at 1:50am
Sometimes God chooses to reveal Himself in the simplest of things...
Tonight, while avoiding other homework, I decided to gesso over a panel that I had worked on this time last year when I attempted Painting I (which I ultimately dropped at midterms, and therefore did not complete, thus my re-taking it this semester). Right before I began, I had a moment of anxiety. "I worked so hard to build this paint up...if I gesso over it, it will never be the same...what if I miss it?" But I also knew that I would never work on it again or finish it. It was driving me crazy, this constant reminder of where I had failed to finish before, of my shortcomings and inability to complete the work on my own.
So I picked up my brush, and put on the first stripe of Gesso.
Immediately I began to feel better. As each stroke of the brush passed over the panel, I felt the weight of the shame that I associated with that painting lifted. As each stroke passed over, it covered the old, and made way for the new. With one stroke left, I was hit by a revelation: Jesus is the Gesso.
Jesus is the Gesso of my life. He covered my failures and shortcomings, and made them "white as snow". He set up the new foundation for my world, and gave me the opportunity to become something Beautiful in the hands of the Master Painter. He erases my past, and gives me a future.
You use Gesso on any painting. It acts like a primer. Use it on a new canvas or panel, and it prepares it for the paint, so that it will 'stick'. Use it on an old or already painted on panel, and it covers completely the old work and renews the panel into something with potential to be anything. Some people think that they cannot be forgiven, because they have done too many bad things. But no matter how much mess you may have put on the canvas of your life, Jesus can be the Gesso.
If I had held on to that painting, too afraid or proud to admit I couldn't perfect it, new work could not be built upon it. The evidence of my shortcomings would ever be before me. Just so, if we hold on to a life outside of Christ, too afraid of how he might change us, or to lose the little kingdoms we have built, our sin is ever before us, and we cannot become the 'New Creations'* that God has intended us to be. We are called to 'Be transformed by the renewing of your mind"* , and to die to ourselves so that we might live. For "though your sins are scarlet, they may be as snow' * and though the painting you have made of your life may fall short, it can be made new, for Jesus is the Gesso.
This is not a new thought, but it struck me hard tonight. I can never have too many reminders of 1) what I have been brought out of (death in sin) 2) what I have been brought into (Child of God), and 3) what He is doing in me (Sanctification). I am glad that He will never give up on me, or cast me aside as a 'lost cause' and that He knows exactly what He is making, even if sometimes I don't!
* 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold the new has come!"
* Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."
*Isaiah 1:18 " 'Come, Let us reason together, ' says the Lord. ' Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are like crimson, they shall be like wool. ' "
*Ephesians 2:10 " For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus..."
*Philippians 1:6 "For I am confident of this: that He who began a good work in you will carry it through to completion."
"Remember He is the artist and you are only the picture. You can't see it. So quietly submit to be painted---i.e., keep fulfilling all the obvious duties of your station (you really know quite well enough what they are!), asking forgiveness for each failure and then leaving it alone.You are in the right way. Walk---don't keep on looking at it." -CS LEwis
Tonight, while avoiding other homework, I decided to gesso over a panel that I had worked on this time last year when I attempted Painting I (which I ultimately dropped at midterms, and therefore did not complete, thus my re-taking it this semester). Right before I began, I had a moment of anxiety. "I worked so hard to build this paint up...if I gesso over it, it will never be the same...what if I miss it?" But I also knew that I would never work on it again or finish it. It was driving me crazy, this constant reminder of where I had failed to finish before, of my shortcomings and inability to complete the work on my own.
So I picked up my brush, and put on the first stripe of Gesso.
Immediately I began to feel better. As each stroke of the brush passed over the panel, I felt the weight of the shame that I associated with that painting lifted. As each stroke passed over, it covered the old, and made way for the new. With one stroke left, I was hit by a revelation: Jesus is the Gesso.
Jesus is the Gesso of my life. He covered my failures and shortcomings, and made them "white as snow". He set up the new foundation for my world, and gave me the opportunity to become something Beautiful in the hands of the Master Painter. He erases my past, and gives me a future.
You use Gesso on any painting. It acts like a primer. Use it on a new canvas or panel, and it prepares it for the paint, so that it will 'stick'. Use it on an old or already painted on panel, and it covers completely the old work and renews the panel into something with potential to be anything. Some people think that they cannot be forgiven, because they have done too many bad things. But no matter how much mess you may have put on the canvas of your life, Jesus can be the Gesso.
If I had held on to that painting, too afraid or proud to admit I couldn't perfect it, new work could not be built upon it. The evidence of my shortcomings would ever be before me. Just so, if we hold on to a life outside of Christ, too afraid of how he might change us, or to lose the little kingdoms we have built, our sin is ever before us, and we cannot become the 'New Creations'* that God has intended us to be. We are called to 'Be transformed by the renewing of your mind"* , and to die to ourselves so that we might live. For "though your sins are scarlet, they may be as snow' * and though the painting you have made of your life may fall short, it can be made new, for Jesus is the Gesso.
This is not a new thought, but it struck me hard tonight. I can never have too many reminders of 1) what I have been brought out of (death in sin) 2) what I have been brought into (Child of God), and 3) what He is doing in me (Sanctification). I am glad that He will never give up on me, or cast me aside as a 'lost cause' and that He knows exactly what He is making, even if sometimes I don't!
* 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold the new has come!"
* Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."
*Isaiah 1:18 " 'Come, Let us reason together, ' says the Lord. ' Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are like crimson, they shall be like wool. ' "
*Ephesians 2:10 " For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus..."
*Philippians 1:6 "For I am confident of this: that He who began a good work in you will carry it through to completion."
"Remember He is the artist and you are only the picture. You can't see it. So quietly submit to be painted---i.e., keep fulfilling all the obvious duties of your station (you really know quite well enough what they are!), asking forgiveness for each failure and then leaving it alone.You are in the right way. Walk---don't keep on looking at it." -CS LEwis
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