Melissavanbiljon

“May you, son, daughter, image of the very Creator God, fearfully and wonderfully made, knit together in your mother’s womb, fully seen, fully known, and fully loved, see with eyes that are open wide. Hear the Voice that speaks from inside of you with ears attuned and mind unshackled. Taste and see the goodness of the One who shall be all and in all. May your heart be opened to the love that formed you and everything else, the love that holds all things together and shall make all things new in the end, and may that love that was broken and poured out for you impel you into the world to break your own self open to be poured out for the world that God so loves. Poured out in acts of justice and mercy, poured out in good and hard work that brings order rather than disorder. Poured out in songs and liturgies, business plans and water colors, child-rearing and policy-making. May your life be a brush in the very hand of God—painting new creation into every nook and cranny of reality that your shadow graces. Be courageous. Be free. Prune that which needs pruning, and water that which thirsts for righteousness. You are the body of Christ, the light of the world. Pick up your hammer. Your brush. Your trumpet. Your skillet. Your pen. Lift up your head. And walk. Run. Dance. Fly. The great Artist, the future God, calls you into being. So go into your world, your valley, your garden, and create with His grace and in His peace. Amen. ________________________”
― Michael Gungor, The Crowd, The Critic And The Muse: A Book For Creators

“Yet somehow, in the embrace of our frailty and meaninglessness, we find meaning. This is faith. Faith is the opposite of arrogance. Faith is open eyes and open heart.”
― Michael Gungor, The Crowd, The Critic And The Muse: A Book For Creators

“Entitlement is not a friend of art. Work is. Pain is.”
― Michael Gungor, The Crowd, The Critic And The Muse: A Book For Creators

“We all experience a measure of suffering, and every experience can be redeemed. C. S. Lewis wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”4”
― Glenn Packiam, Secondhand Jesus