Be fruitful

`Be Fruitful' (2015) using style of zentangle

Once during a church camp, I asked the visiting speaker how to be fruitful. Interestingly, he quoted

Matthew 11:28-30The Message (MSG)
^28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Deep down, I was wondering: What kind of answer is this? So you are saying.....
- Get away from your `ministries' and `work'
- Walk and work with Jesus
- Watch how He does it
- Learn rhythms of grace, it cannot be forced
- Trust Him not to lay anything heavy on us
- Keep company with Him

..... then you will be fruitful which is equivalent to living freely and lightly. WOW!

Sounds so relaxing and wonderful but my dense brain still couldn't figure out the path..... I guess the drawing may set a few lights to the mystery.

In the picture, I draw symbols of fruitfulness - fruits (guess how many), corn,  trees, vines, flowers and butterflies juxtaposed with webs, entangles, waves and storms.
Much effort, much strive to achieve the target I supposed. In the end, the fruit of my labour, the reward (represented by the tall tree) seems not worth the effort. I actually abandoned the project. It's half done, I am supposed to fill the entire page. Haha.

What an irony.

I was tired of the process, worn out- it is not easy to draw the intricate and repeated design. I haven't come back to explore the theme yet. Perhaps when the time is right.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, help me to learn the unforced rhythm of grace. Help me surrender all preconceived ideas and come walk with you. Allow me to take a walk to our personal Emmaus so that I can gain understanding and clarity. In Jesus' name, Amen.

I am weak but He is strong (Part 1)

Title: Doing vs Being (2009).

This was what I had written in 2009:
Paul is my bible hero whom I want to emulate. I want to be `task oriented' and dynamic like him. I have indeed been doing a lot of things yet something seems to be missing. Surely rushing against the clock was never on Paul's agenda.
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This is one of my earlier drawings. Hmm... didn't realise that I have touched on this theme of bible heroes twice (see Part 2). Paul used to be my hero. Now it is the nameless woman with the issue of blood. Just realise too that over the years, my idea of hero has changed or rather God has gently shown me how to live out these verses.

2 Cor 12:9
 "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

Mat 20:16
"So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

Yes, indeed, we need not bemoan our weaknesses and not living up to ideals or hide behind in shame behind the guise of `all is well and good' or overcome the inadequacy by doing more, more, more.

We are fully poor and needy. Expose it. Admit it. And like the nameless woman, risk everything, come out in the open.  But there is a grave danger in that. A crucial component must be present.
Please read Part 2 for the continuation.

Quotable Quotes:

 "In Christ, there is nothing I can do that would make You love me more and nothing I have done that makes You love me less."                                                                                                J. D Greear
 "Ah! believers, you are a tempted people. You are always poor and needy.  And God intends it should be so, to give you constant errands to go to Jesus. Some may say, it is not good to be a believer; but ah!  see to whom we can go."                                                    Robert Murray McCheyne

I am weak but He is strong (part 2)

I did this last year (2015) as an entry to Colours of the Bible contest entitled `My Bible Hero'. Won 2nd place. In it, I tried to depict Jesus in modern times.

Title: The woman who touched Jesus (June 2015)
 I consider her (the woman with the issue of blood) to be my hero as this nameless woman fully illuminates Jesus as the ultimate hero. She shows me that when we reach the end of ourselves, that is the point where Jesus begins his heroic act of rescuing damsel in distress. All we have to do is reach out and touch Him. She also points to me her single-minded pursuit of Jesus despite risking exposure to her own filthiness. In contrast, all we are doing nowadays are half-hearted pursuit of Jesus, watered down by personal agendas and gadgets. What she is doing is so counter culture! www.facebook.com/coloursofthebible/

As mentioned in Part 1, this brave woman stepped out and risk exposing her shame. There is a danger to it.

I recall an incident that happened not too long ago. A girl  revealed a secret that she had been hiding all this while. She was molested by her own father. It affected the way she related to men and made her highly emotional. Since she was under aged, it had to be reported to the police and she was actually relieved at first to come out in the open and hope to gain understanding from others. However, her vulnerability opened her up for more attacks and she crumbled under the intense scrutiny. Her mum said `She is exaggerating' , her classmates said ` That doesn't give you the reason to be a diva' etc etc... So she retreated back to her shell again, this time tighter than before.

Which leads me to conclude, we can expose our own vulnerability only in the arena of healing, in the safe presence of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Imagine Jesus absent in the picture, the woman drawn in the picture will be frown upon by the crowd around her. Her pathetic frame will be on the social media within seconds.  How will she feel then?

So the missing link...
we need to know Jesus as our source of healing ie to accept him as personal saviour. It is best to be in His arena of healing surrounded by brothers and sisters who care, Jesus is close by, He is closer than you think.
.....then we are safe to step out.

However, sometimes we step out not really seeing Him (but we know Him), with much doubts and trepidation. We could be alone. I guess that is risky and open to attack. God is still there and there is such a thing called GRACE.

Recommended reading: God is closer than you think by John Ortberg