Taken by Surprise

Asherel sketched her deer for an art contest she is entering while I sketched one too, both of us listening to the rain.
"I hate pastels," she complained,"They always smear."
"They are supposed to smear," I told her,"That is the nature of pastels. Use it to your advantage.
And while we are at it, use your technology to your advantage
too. Set an audible reminder on your iPod to copy the forms you need tomorrow for Gavel club."

She did so, and continued drawing, often grumbling how pastels smear when you don't want them to.

That night as we were calmly eating dinner, the storm dripping outside off and on, there was a sudden explosion of a warning siren- the kind that signified a tornado about to carry Toto to Oz.
I nearly choked on my burrito.
Asherel remained surprisingly calm, and in fact, began laughing.
"What was that!?" I gasped, clutching my pounding chest.

"My iPod reminder," she laughed.

"You have an air raid siren on your iPod?" I exclaimed.

Asherel can do amazing things with her iPod- use it as a flashlight or as a level, tune her guitar, and now warn the entire neighborhood of Armageddon. She is very resourceful and usually excels at exploiting the potential of her tools. That is why her grumbling over the smearing pastels was somewhat out of character.

I love how pastels smear. As the colors melt together, quite often surprising effects that are astonishingly beautiful result. It is ironic that although I am a planner, I love the unplanned surprises in art.  And Asherel who is much more a go with the flow kind of person hates that unpredictable quality in art.
"I like pencils," she lamented,"the line stays where I draw it."


I like surprises by God too. I love drawing pictures on my iPod, and then uploading them to my Blog and wonder anew what message God can show me through that seemingly irrelevant sketch. God doesn't seem to care much about what I may plan or the course of smear I think my life should wander. But He does seem to delight in what astonishingly beautiful times He can produce if I let myself trust that His seemingly unplanned smudges are creating a glorious picture of my life.


Asherel and I chuckled all evening over the air raid siren, and I think she felt she had appropriately paid me back for making her use pastels which she hates. But the last laugh is mine, because I love surprises.


Jeremiah 14:9
⁹ Why are you like a man taken by surprise,
       like a warrior powerless to save?
       You are among us, O LORD,
       and we bear your name;
       do not forsake us!