Serving the Gift: Artists and Their Art
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An Incarnational Event
“Obedience is an unpopular word nowadays, but the artist must be obedient to the work, whether it be a symphony, a painting, or a story for a small child. I believe that each work of art, whether it is a work of great genius, or something very small, comes to the artist and says, ‘Here I am. Enflesh me. Give birth to me.’ And the artist either says, ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord,’ and willingly becomes the bearer of the work, or refuses; but the obedient response is not necessarily a conscious one, and not everyone has the humble, courageous obedience of Mary.”
I’ve never been a particularly obedient person. If I was ever obedient as a child it was because I was scared of my parents or the authoritative adult giving me instruction or because I knew if I didn’t obey I’d get sent to the principle’s office and then get in trouble by my parents. In college, I felt so much freedom whisking down upon me I didn’t know what to do with myself. However, I was still obedient to my professor’s assignments, not because I wanted the best possible grades, but because I knew if I didn’t get them, I’d still have to answer to my parents.
These days during the post-graduation start of my life, obedience has become something of a learned skill. Especially in terms of listening to God, something I’ve never been altogether good at. I would blame this on my dad for he is a stubborn person and I tend to get most of my quirks from him, but I can’t, because ultimately I’m old enough to know which personality quirks are defective, yet I do nothing about them. Can you believe it’s actually been in reading and watching Harry Potter that I’ve learned a lot about the harrowing art of obedience. But, more on that later, because it requires a post in itself.
As a result of this, however, I can tell you that shaved of my parents financial support in both my academic ventures and all-around cost of living expenses, sheds a new light on the definition of obedience for me. It’s more like an inner voice you have to attune yourself to, one that – for me, anyway – is directly linked to the voice of God. It’s a voice that doesn’t at all sound like Morgan Freeman out of Bruce Almighty, although sometimes I really wish it did, but more like my own voice or the voice of someone I talk to or think about frequently.
I’ve learned that obedience is more individual, and is entirely dependent on our belief system. It’s not simply obeying because someone’s told us to do something, but why we obey when we decide to do so and why we don’t when we disobey. It’s psychological and personal and spiritual. It’s a lot more than I ever considered obedience before, and I think that’s why some people are the way they are. It’s not so much doing something because a person’s been told to do it or not doing something when they’ve been told to do it (and vice versa), but why the person obeys or disobeys certain instructions from certain people.
I think once you’ve thought about the different levels of obedience it becomes easier to understand yourself, and even God, and can ultimately help you become the person you long to be.