Real Life

"What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him.... 

-Mark 10:51

Jesus asked his question of a blind man.  The blind man responded, "Rabbi, I want to see." Jesus replied, "Go, your faith has healed you."  When I seriously began teaching myself to draw and watercolor paint I copied other artists such as Edith Holden.  The above is my copy of one of her paintings from her diary.  I was able to reproduce what she saw and drew and watercolored.  The next year I practiced using Beatrix Potter's drawings.  This year I've been attempting to draw from my own imagination and real life.  It's not going as smoothly.  

I feel it's a metaphor for me.  In order to capture a scene onto watercolor paper one must really SEE the subject.  Learning to draw and paint forces one to see in a way that is new--shapes, light, shadows, colors--whereas before I only saw enough to identify the object.  

This applies to real life in other ways.  When we are with someone do we really "see" them?  Or are we too absorbed in ourselves to notice the fear or anger or discouragement lurking just under the surface?  Jesus asks us, too: "What do you want me to do for you?"  I want to be able to see--really see--what I am looking at.  This is the only way to capture and live a real life.

I am grateful that I only need ask in faith and God gives me what I need.