Love Song in Progress

"There's always a moment when I have more clarity about what a piece is about. It happened just now as I was preparing to write some of my notes down here for the day. I realized that when I was adding today's progress photo that I had been saying process instead of progess like the orignal title of this entry. I had gotten it mixed up and accidentally put the wrong word in its place. And that word process, it has such a clinical centrifugal feel to it, like if the process was hard enough, that in the end the perfect result will happen. I am reminded of my Grandma's ancient double roller press washing machine from long ago that used to press the clothes so hard that there was not any water left. Well that has a huge nod to religion doesn't it. It squeezes you SO hard that there is no life left in you at all and you feel like a limp rag. Let that sink in for a little. This is not The Way. This one word change made such a huge impact on me, progress, not process. So I moved the quotation marks to include this in the title. This piece is now called "Love Song in Progress" and that my friends makes my eyes well up. Religion demands perfection, but commitment to Jesus is not that way. It allows for growth, for personal stretching, and I don't mean the physical kind. When we start walking with God, what He does, I believe, is to create more space in us to hold more of Him. More of His Spirit. More of His character. More of His love. "Love Song in Progress", well it feels like it's a do not disturb sign on a door that is closed while the person in the room is entering into the Secret Place with God, a moment of beautiful spiritual metamorphosis."

- An excerpt from "On Painting: Love Song in Progress".