Artistic Designs

"It is too flat and the head is too big," said Asherel.
"This is hard," I said,"I can't make it any bigger. I am using artistic license."
I paused and looked at my sand creature.
"No one will know what it is, will they?" I groaned.
"But you will, and isn't that why you do it?" said Asherel.
But then she continued to watch me and agreed. No one would know what it is.

"Wow," said a passerby,"That's great!"
"Do you know what it is?" I asked,brushing sand off my cheek.
"Uhh...some sort of animal. But a really well done one! What would I know? I'm a Jersey girl."
She walked on. I continued to shape my creation while Asherel smirked.

My sand creature took much longer to craft than usual. I struggled to make the back taller and rounder, the nostrils dilated (Not easy in sand), and the creases of the skin visible. Almost two hours later, it was nearing completion. A little girl, no more than 3 or 4 years old, came rushing over. Her father followed her.
"Oh, look Cindy, do you know what that is?"
She smiled and nodded with wide sweeping dips of her chin, her ponytails dancing against her shoulders.
"Well say it! It's an armadillo, isn't it!?" he said.
"Does it look like an armadillo?" I asked little Cindy.
She smiled widely at me and nodded, "Daddy, I want one."
"Oh I can't do that!" he said.
"Sure you can," I encouraged him.

He and Cindy headed a little ways off and sat down in the sand, making a pile that would be shaped into an animal. I grinned at Asherel.
"The three year old knew it was an armadillo," I said.

I thought how eerily similar to yesterday this little vignette of life was. Maybe my job for the week at the beach was to spurn moms and dads to build with their little ones, to come together finding joy in the recreation of God's glorious creatures. To find the creative urge in each of us in a communal endeavor.

I walked over as the man waved and said, "Well, we did it!"
It was a small creation, only about a foot long and a few inches tall.
"That is a wonderful armadillo!" I said to the little girl.
"It's a turtle," she said.
"Of course! It looks just like a turtle too!" I said, smiling at her.

Exodus 35:10, 31-34 NIV

"All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the Lord has commanded: and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts. And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others.

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