Georgia

I wanted to go through the Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit that was at the Memorial Art Gallery downtown. The last day, the last viewing, and I was staring at Dark Iris in wonder. It was incredible. I am always surprised at my reaction to those settings - something in me buzzing, parts of me moving that I don't get to take for a ride too often. That ought to change.

"A hill or a tree cannot make a good painting just because it is a hill or tree. It is lines and colors put together so that they may say something."

I was particularly fascinated with a series of photographs in which she was the subject. There were a few of her hands that were stunning. I have a thing about hands. A lot of people have tried to get to the bottom of it, but really it's just a thing. You know. Something I notice about the people I meet. And the people I am trying to get to know. Yes, I've probably looked at your hands. Do not be alarmed.

Passion for something is an amazing thing. I don't think it's something that can be conjured up by choice. I think you have to have it planted in you by an outside source - namely, the Spirit of God. I also think it can be overgrown, unprotected. And, after neglect, completely forgotten. That is, until you pass by something that wakes it up.

It is difficult to live with all the parts of you awake at once. I mean, every one of us has so many little nuances about our hearts - the kind of stuff you could spend years trying to anticipate and explain to each other, and still miss something. We don't even know ourselves well enough to go there. And for every little corner we haven't walked around in a while, somethings hiding, waiting to be called up and put to use. And the oldest ones are getting really sleepy and tired of waiting.

Georgia O'Keeffe struck me as someone who knew what she was going at. I saw photos of her as a young woman in New York, and as an old woman in New Mexico. Both women with their hair swept back and a calm countenance that makes you want to know what she's thinking. Security in how she's coming out - not concerned with what she may have missed or where she may have gone wrong. There was something in the way that she accepted her desire to paint, to create, to respond to beauty around her, to receive the vision she had for her art - freedom that others now pay to get close to a portion of. They look at her flowers, her landscapes, her blue sky and white bone, even the photos taken by the man she fell in love with that give us her face - and all these stages of her life are beautiful. We are fascinated with her journey.

I want to be fascinated with my journey.

"But as it is written:
'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.' "

2 Cor. 2:9