HOPE 365 Toolbox - Weekly Devotion - The Gift of Good Paper

The Gift of Good Paper

Pastor Roger Sylwester

When Patra Mueller asked me a week ago to write this message, I said I couldn’t do it then because I was painting Valentines but could write one for next week. She wrote “Why don’t you blog about art?” So here it is.

I’m often asked by my family, “Do you have enough watercolor paper?” Good watercolor paper contains only cotton or linen fibers, has a special sizing that helps control pigments, and will last for centuries. I use French Arches (founded in 1492) watercolor paper, 22 x 30 inches, 140 lb. I cut it into four quarter sheets, my favorite size. I have sketchbooks and other paper, but nothing else produces the sharp and soft edges and blending of colors as good watercolor paper! I am often gifted with 10 sheets of this paper by my family so I can paint without fear of messing up or running out of paper. This is a real gift!

What if we were gifted with a clean white sheet of paper on which to record our lives each day? Such is the baptismal gift of God’s grace in Christ Jesus. Luther says to begin each day remembering our baptism, reminding ourselves that we are members of God’s family. Each day is a new day of God’s undeserved love, His grace! Our Lord’s journey to the cross, which we are about to begin with Lent, is his willingness to confront all the powers that promise life but never deliver. They only trap us into trying harder to succeed and judging ourselves unworthy. But none of these powers, riches, images of success, not even death itself, will have the final word. Jesus took this journey with us and for us. In Him we are gifted each day with new life and new beginnings, forgiven and restored. Our call is to follow Jesus, to respond to and rejoice in this new life and to grace others with our concern, love, mercy, and forgiveness. Who knows what new picture we might paint…and live.