Personal Reflection: Experiencing Liturgy through the Senses

EXPERIENCING THE HOLY THROUGH PAINTING
Charles Sikes

I understand that many runners experience a “high” during their extended runs. I’m not a runner but I understand this elevated experience.

I’m an oil painter and often experience a mystical period after a prolonged time into a new work. God takes over. The brush is in my hand but I’m not aware that I’m making any decisions about color, placement, or form. I have gotten out of the way and the senses have yielded to the Holy Spirit.

The brush, the paint, and I are the instruments. God the Creator is and always has been the artist.

Much later when I look at the finished painting I don’t remember making the painting. That, of course, is because I didn’t make it.

Getting out of God’s way and allowing Him or Her to take over all aspects of my life is a lesson I find difficult to remember and to practice.

“Dear God: Help me to remember to get out of your way”.