Key Note, Joelle - Devotional Essay
‘Thousand Years’
How long does it take for a painting or picture to come into your eyes? Whether I wanted or not, my mind starts to grasp and study it as I open my eyes with sudden impetus. Of course, it is hard to read all the details but the picture that could possibly have taken a few days or even a couple of years to be finished are captured in my eyes at once.
A song which can last up to two to three minutes contains many elements. The various elements are formed in compact mass and are heard in my ears then it disappears. Suddenly, the collection of sounds played leaves lots of things behind. However, I don’t recognize that.
What is printed in a page are letters of words but once these are gathered it makes the time and time flies by. I try to digest writings that must contain timeless times in five minutes. Or the steps we take in different moments which happens like turning a page. I realize I am walking very slowly in opposite way compared to the world. This sort of actions tell me the details I couldn't see or feel.
Two to three minutes are short time stream. Two or three seconds are not even noticeable in time stream. Take short two seconds and increase it to two minutes and then increase it to two hours. Conversely, let's compress two hours to two minutes. Such views and thoughts can be experienced through creative works. Writing and making music can happen at a snail’s pace or full speed ahead. The act of putting the time that exist in the world in our hands and controlling it as much as we want is like bringing the misconception that we are the center of the world. For instance, let’s say I spent the whole day thinking over and over of what to draw but it came to realization as soon as I grabbed the painting brush. The eight hours of thinking is compressed into only five minutes. When grabbing something that you can’t see and creating it into something that can be seen, heard and felt is like being Don Quixote, who puts the reality behind but maps the ideal world.
It will be easy for someone who have similar career like myself to pay attention to the things that the world can’t see and hear as followers of Christ. But the whole balance is broken once I shift myself as the center of the world or when selfish thoughts penetrate as if everything belongs to me.
I am still struggling to stand up on my own standards rather than relying on the flow of time that God has set. In the end it is my flesh that is troubled by this struggle. Although, I am well aware of the countless experiences and outcomes through God’s guidance, I still feel dizzy maturing in Him. I know that it will not be hard putting my best in given works when seeking and trusting God but because of proud and unbreakable self-lays on the floor helplessly after having seen everything in my eyes. That’s when I look up at the sky, not the world but calling on the name of the Lord.
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