“Clay” by Tricia Richards

…

This poem was written by Tricia Richards.  She and her husband Noel  travel the world sharing his songs and Tricia’s poetry.  We were honored this past week to have met them and have shared in their wonderful ministry.  You can find more out about them at www.noelrichards.com.

It has been a long time since I wondered where my artistic gift came from. So many times in the course of a drawing, painting, or sculpture I step back and think, “Wow, where did that come from?”, knowing that the skill or idea didn’t come from me, but from the author of the gift… I think, more than ever now, after 30–40 years of dabbling in art, I understand better than anyone where my gift comes from and who gave it. So many people have said to me, “What a wonderful gift you have” or “What a wonderful talent”. My general response is, “We’ve all been given gifts to share with others… I imagine that you can probably add and subtract or sing or cook or keep house or whatever”. My gift, the gift of art, is no more or less important than any other. For me now, I don’t find great fulfillment in finishing a piece… I can’t look at it and think, “wow, you’re good”, anymore than I can do that when I manage to make an edible meal. It’s just work. It’s what I was created to do. To take credit for it seams so wrong to me. It’s God’s gift, and He gets whatever glory there is. Now, there is our part in the equation: we have to be willing to do whatever it takes to refine our gifts… to be faithful to the calling, to practice and to bring it to a place of excellence. The gift IS from God; the cultivation of it is up to us.

-Ginny