The Heart is my Canvas

I had 6 teenagers over to paint their Destination Imagination backdrop yesterday. Fortunately, it was a warm day so the pack of teens had 10 cans of house paint open outside in the back yard, rather than inside my precious home. I shudder to think what I will do on a day too cold to let them loose out back.

Before they painted their backdrop, they had to finish constructing the frame. Since I am not allowed to interfere or assist in any manner, I felt the best idea was for me to go just outside the sunroom where they were building, and rake. I heard a few worrisome loud bangs, and a few shrieks, but nothing that rose to the level of "Call 911".

They all seemed quite proud of the well built structures that they carried out on to the lawn. I gave some final hopeful instructions on the paint, and went indoors. There was a lot of laughter, and again, those disconcerting shrieks. I wandered out every so often just to be sure no one was practicing painting our tree trunks. They never did, though once when I poked out my head, they were painting one team member. I put the kibosh on that, and warned them that no blue person would be allowed in the house.

They all knew the rule no shoes in the house after going in our muddy/dog-poop minefield. So they all took their shoes off, left them dutifully on the back deck, and walked in their bare feet on the muddy/dog-poop minefield. Then when they came inside, of course, they left their footprints...
"Wait!" I called out, "Put your shoes on before you walk in the house with those muddy feet!"
"But you told us no shoes in the house," cautioned one wise teen.
"That's if you walked in the muddy backyard in your shoes," I said, "But right now, your shoes are cleaner than your feet."

Other than that, the afternoon seemed to go well, and they seemed to have a lot of fun. They delegated roles, and everyone had a part, though at times there was some standing around trying to figure out where exactly their skills fit in. Not everything they worked on was successful. I saw some ideas started and abandoned, but creativity rarely springs forth in one completed and perfect swoosh.

Perhaps most importantly, they were figuring out how to manage and complete a complex project with little adult supervision and no assistance. It is what I love most about Destination Imagination. It teaches kids that with organized team work and self reliance, they can do amazing things without a teacher telling them what to do. It teaches the teacher to trust her student and back off. This is tremendously difficult for me, and always makes me wonder how God manages to keep His hands off and let us stumble through, when He knows He has ways to make it all so much easier!

There are always things to do on weekends, fun places to go, hours to put your feet up and relax. I would not have described the Saturday overflowing with teens with gallons of indelible paint "relaxing", but the picture it painted in my memory was worth the forfeited afternoon. I am an artist and I had to keep myself from rushing out and grabbing the brush and painting that glorious huge backdrop myself. I didn't, however. Instead, I thought of their hearts as my canvas and hoped I was helping paint something very valuable and lasting upon them.

Romans 12:1,3-5 (NIV)
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God---this is your true and proper worship. [3] For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. [4] For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, [5] so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.





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