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The Pink
Room: Thoughts About Intentional Living
Chapter 9/
God’s Throne.
Part 1
(Previous post contain the previous chapters.)
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When I
went back to college to get my Art Teaching certificate I did all kinds of
things I didn’t plan on doing. One of them was an Artist in Residence at Studio
210, Neville Public Museum. When I finished, the director wrote a letter of
recommendation for me at the end of the residency saying that I was the “most
prolific” artist they had in the five years the program existed. I thought that was funny. (And I wondered
what all these other artists were doing while they were there?)
I was
between five and ten hours a week and completed one or two pieces a week.
Mother Teresa, Grace Kelley, Dali Lama were all done in contemporary portraits.
I enjoyed having them in my car—I could tell people they were in there. Another
series had to do with hearts; I’ll probably continue that one for years in one
manner or another. Anatomically correct hearts with illustrations over part or
all of them; one had slash marks through it, a little like Freddie Krueger.
Another has a zipper on it, all viewers assume it is being unzipped,
ironically; I always pictured it zipping up. That one is called “Keeping it
together.” One about human trafficking awareness and fear of those captive—a
big heart, brain and bird.
I was at
an Alpha event where the leader was describing the throne in our hearts. Every
person has a throne inside their heart that is intended to be a seat for Jesus.
He went on to describe all the different ways that we unseat Jesus and replace
Him with ourselves, or with another person, or with ambition—but the only way
life works right is when the seat is inhabited by the intended sitter.
That
thought explains a lot of pain and strife. We are made to worship. We can get
distracted and start worshipping people like celebrities or royalty, who are
easy targets of our admiration or idol worship. Even those with the best of
intentions can be subject to worship, like pastors, teachers, or someone
special to you.
When I
worked at the large music festival, we’d have “celebrities” around all the
time. Many of them were wonderful people but then there were a few who acted as
though they believed they deserved to be worshipped.
Even
ideals like perfection can be something that we worship. Whatever it is, when
it is more than a goal, or it is an obsession, it is a sign that things are
off-balance. We can put this on ourselves or be hurt by those who expect us to
be something we can never achieve.
I had a
boss that was cold and compassionless and felt her contribution was to point
out other’s every flaw in order to “help them be better employees.” Nothing and
no one was ever good enough. The team would be drilled. We’d be forced to
correct every little thing—we’d get tied up in editing drafts of projects into
the 20th and 30th revisions. She believed her perfect team was something
everyone should worship, and it nearly killed us.
Henry
Cloud posted, “Perfectionists fail to accept that the world, and all of the
people in it, are flawed; understanding that concept is something that can fuel
compassion, foster empathy, and help you develop healthy structures for
continuously improving your own performance. Perfectionism is an incapacitating
force. It stops us from connecting with the real, but it also stops us from
connecting with others. The inward perfectionist will never feel good enough to
be loved or appreciated; the outward perfectionist will always find the flaws
in the details, unable to find redeeming virtues that are plainly visible to
the rest of us. Habits are hard to break, but the mechanics of overcoming
perfectionism are easy to put into practice. All you have to do is be willing
to make a lot of mistakes. Understand that that’s what we’re all doing all the
time, continuously messing up, learning, and doing better.”
Just like
perfectionism being and idol, I think the same results happen with any idol.
Anything but Jesus on the throne inside our hearts will result in
disappointment and pain. If we want to be people who know compassion and
empathy we must have everything in the right order. Jesus as perfect Lord and
King, and us as His imperfect servants and friends.
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Someone or
something other than the One worthy of worship, as the recipient of our worship,
and everything gets out of whack. Living life as though we have an audience of
One has helped me get my mind around One to worship. If we live as though we
have one to love, one to please, one to serve, and one who knows our every need,
we will keep most the idols at bay. They creep in, though, and we have to keep
an eye on that chair.
