Scripture
“Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.”
PSALM 37:3b
Quotes/Color
“There’s a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn’t that kind of the point?”
Pam Halpert
Context
I did study abroad in college and got some great European culture in the process. Works of art, history, cuisine. I took some of it more seriously than other parts as you can see from my first instinct in front of the famous Thinking Man Statue here…
But there was one thing that actually really stuck with me… A series of paintings by Claude Monet called The Haystack Series. (Seen on the sides here.)
Claude Monet, a French impressionist painter, completed a series of 25 paintings of haystacks. Haystacks located directly outside of his house, belonging to Monet’s neighbor, Mosieur Queuel (thanks Wikipedia). All painted sitting from the exact same place… Every day… For more than a year.
25 paintings. Same place. Same pasture. More than a year.
Why sit in the same place day after day and paint the same scene?
The setting didn’t change. Same haystacks. Same prairie view. Same chair in the same spot. Same everything.
The setting didn’t change. But the conditions did.
Bright summer one day. Bitter cold winter another.
And that is what Monet was after. He was obsessed with spotting the small differences in the landscape as time passed, seasons changed, day by day. Insistent on capturing the new beauty that was unique to that day and that day only in this same… exact… place.
Application
A few things I take from this and Psalm 37 and still value as a lesson to this day.
Steps of Instruction from Psalm 37
First, Dwell in the Land and Second, Cultivate Faithfulness.
- (1) Dwell in the Land – Get comfortable where you are. Stop looking over your shoulder at someone else’s land. And squarely, securely orient yourself with shoulders facing forward and feet planted in the land you are standing in right now. Are there more titillating, more exciting areas you could possibly be? Of course. But this is the land you’ve been given. Be grateful for it, be content in it… and?
- (2) Cultivate Faithfulness – believe in it. Get creative in it. Believe it has got some potential if you give it time and loyalty. Because it does.
Remarkable consistency yields remarkable results
What a temptation it is to uproot oneself and go to the latest greatest thing that has captured our interest. New city, new job, new club, new team, new friends, new places, new workout tactics, new diets, new shows, new experiences.
The only problem is that the less you dwell in life the less you can cultivate. The less you can cultivate and tenderly care for your land, the less you can harvest. The less you harvest, the less fullness you experience in life. This is true of the things we involve ourselves in in life and abundantly more true in walking with the Lord.
Give each day a chance
Settings don’t often change in our lives. We return to the same desk, same classroom, same seat next to the same people every day – often for hours on end. It gets old. But conditions do. (Your heart’s condition, your spirit’s condition, the condition of loved ones and your relationship to them, the condition of the world you live in).
Look for those changes and give them a chance to have an impact.
Settings don’t change as often as our short attention spans would like them to. But, like it or not, we are called to come to the same place, before God, and ask for a new perspective and see new beauty in God’s unfolding Kingdom each and every day as life’s conditions change.
Settings don’t change often. But seasons do.
Appreciate more than just a change in scenery… Enjoy and find beauty in a change of season in your same familiar setting.
Be faithful to spotting those small changes and treasure them.
Give the day a chance to allow God to do that.
Something to Chew On:
- What areas in your life and in your walk with God are you faithful to/consistent in? Do you make an effort to see new beauty in those ordinary (to you) things regularly?
- Where do you need to cultivate faithfulness in your life? Actually giving patience/contentment a shot and committing to “dwelling” in a certain area/activity/habit/service.
Great Value Proverb:
Return to God faithfully as conditions change in your life and ask Him to reveal to you new beauty and appreciation in the ordinary. He will.