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The Yellow Ochre Newsletter

Stop Belittling Your Gifts

Published about 2 months ago • 1 min read

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Matt Taylor

SPARK ARTIST

Hey guys!

Here are three things to spark your inner missional flame:

💥 INSPIRED BY

An Arts Passport

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​Joseph Zbukvic is one of my favorite watercolor artists.

He’s won over 200 awards and accolades. His paintings are, needless to say, captivating.

Zbukvic also does plein air painting–painting on location. The moment passersby see him working, they’re instantly drawn in, hooked.

About this phenomena where total strangers instantly let their guard down to ask him about his work, Zbukvic said,

Painting is a passport to society.

Art has a sort of instant way to build trust with others.

🛠️ EQUIPPED BY

Stop Belittling Your Gifts

Franklin Roosevelt never saw the front lines of combat.

And yet, he played a critical role in leading America’s role during World War 2.

World wars require all kinds of gifts: diplomacy, strategy, frontline warfare, etc.

He possessed a certain set of skills:

  • Visionary and communication
  • Strategic decision making
  • Coalition building
  • Emotional intelligence
  • Organizational leadership

Just because you aren’t on the front lines of foreign missions or the Sunday morning preaching rotation, your gifts are not belittled in the kingdom of God.

🚀 SENT WITH

I came across this C.S. Lewis quote about God’s “creating” and man’s “building” in The Business Of Heaven:

I know that to create is defined as ‘to make out of nothing’, ex nihilo…This act, as it is for God, must always remain totally inconceivable to man. For we—even our poets and musicians and inventors—never, in the ultimate sense, make. We only build. We always have materials to build from. All we can know about the act of creation must be derived from what we can gather about the relation of the creatures to their Creator.

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The Yellow Ochre Newsletter

Cultural Engagement Ideas for Makers

For over 13 years, I've been an artist in the Christian missionary world. Learn art and mission ideas to spark your creative engagement every Wednesday. Join like-minded artistic Christians looking for that extra nudge to use your creativity for God's mission.

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