today i did two things..
1) i finished reading a book
2) i painted a concerto
{note} these two things might seem completely unrelated (and in truth i didn't see any possible link until i finished the book)
now the best way to share this would be for all of ya'll to see my painting, unfortunately i have not taken the time and trouble to post it online..
so instead i plan to share with you what insight i gained from this book and why i decided to name my painting (as well as this blog) after its title character..
the book is called "ethen between us"
**{take notice}** i will be discussing major plot points and spoilers, so if you want to read the book (or just get annoyed by spoilers) i wouldn't continue..
anywho, i actually got this book from a close friend last night, when i got home i decided to read a couple chapters before i wen to bed, i got to about chp 5 before i fell asleep..
in the morning i had the random urge to paint, so after multiple store runs to gathers supplies (because painting is not a everyday activity for me) i set up shop in our family room
im not going to lie, i royally screwed up my painting and for about an hour i was simply mixing colors on a canvas and making it all worse, but somehow out of the mess i started to see something i liked and by evening i had created.. well something..
back to the book though..
it is the story of a young man named ethen, now ethen is apparently stunningly handsome, a fabulous pianist, and a schizophrenic, but really the story isn't about any of that, because ethen is also an incredibly kind, friendly 17 year old boy who starts dating his next door neighbor (who is apparently a little of an oddity in the small texas town) and quickly befriends a retarded girl in his school who everyone else spends there time tormenting..
long story short, after much drama and heartbreak, ethen dies, and as his girlfriend (who narrates the story) is talking about him, she mentions how ethen talked about concertos, concertos (apparently) are pieces of music written to feature one instrument , she then says "that's what his life was. ethen's life was a short concerto."
a short concerto.
how many times do we meet someone who for whatever reason is only around for a short time, and yet somehow they manage to change our lifes forever?
claire (ethen's girlfriend in the book) talks about how she now notices things she never saw before because of him, she only knew him for 90 days and yet he managed to start changes in her that will last a life time.
one short concerto.
there was a boy in at my church about 5 or 6 years ago
he wasaround 17 or 18 i think (im really not sure) he had several siblings (his younger brother was one of my friends) but he was completely on fire for God
unfortunately i never met him, before i even joined the youth group he caught leukemia and died
he was young, and from everything i've heard he was moving and moving fast, he was a center piece in the youth group, an example to so many, everything thing just seemed right about him, and yet his came time and he was gone
just a single concerto.
throughout history there of storys of people who die young and yet leave legacy's that last life times
the first to come to mind is the story of jim elliot and the fate of the yellow wood bee
jim and four of his missionary buddies felt called to ecuador, to minister the one of the most notoriously savage tribes down there, the Huaorani (then known as the Acuas)
jim and his four friends all wound up brutally murdered by the Huaorani tribe, and yet the wives of jim elliot and his friends continued to work to reach the Huaorani, resulting in the entire tribe converting
five men dieing was what it took to bring an entire tribe to life
back to ethen though, i am not a sappy person, i am the one in the movie theater cracking jokes at the "romantic" parts..
.. and yet, "ethen between us" really made me think, about how special those few who only get a short "solo" in this life to their name, and yet do more with the little that their giving then many do with 10 times that
it also makes you think about how much more you can do with what your giving, cause mabye if we all had a clock ticking over our head we'd be more likely to.. well do something other then sitting around on our royal American.. arses.
anywho, back to the painting, so i decide i want to find a way to honor these examples of how to waste you life in art, and so i walk back downstairs and discover that this piece of crap i've been messing up all day might be able to do just that..
so with a few touches, a line here, and blot here (i was actually tearing up while i was painting, no lie..) i finish "ethen's concerto"
hopefully only the first in a series im thinking of naming "hey you lazys! take a look, appreciate the sacrifice, and then do something!!"
(the title is kinda a working progress though..)
".. sometimes, its the people who are with us the least that do the most.."
-Daniel Saroni, Midnight pules 30min, jan the.. ah heck i don't know the date, goodnight.
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i have a quote to go with this lovely post...
ReplyDelete1) [michael landon] someone should tell us right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day.
ive had this idea though... that its not always just dying that takes people away from us... but sometimes other things as well- growing apart for example, or simply growing up.
things happen and life moves on.
and its important, i think, to remember that.
see, i was thinking that sometimes we just have no idea whats going on in the lives of those around us, we just really dont know.
so if we, as a collective, were to give every day our fullest and serve those around us constantly with complete joy and humility then maybe, just maybe, we can leave this life knowing we didnt waste it. knowing that God is pleased with us and feeling just a little triumphant... because honestly, what more can we do?
for all we know any one of our lives will end tomorrow, no warning, its just... gone.
and wouldnt it be tragic if we had nothing to show for the time we got to spend here?
if all we did was float through this snipet of our lives without ever doing anything worth doing...
that would, to put it bluntly, really kind of suck.
so what holds us back?
isnt this what we are here for?
[thatsall]
Wow.
ReplyDeleteThat was awesome. Encouraging, but challenging and thought-provoking.
Thanks.
john.
I actually stumbled upon this by happenstance, or was it? As I reflected on the concertos of life, I could not help but to reflect on my husband and the short concerto that was his life but the symphony that he left behind in our seven children. i have to totally agree with the comments that have been made by the original author and by Jenni. If there is one thing that I have learned in my life and in my husband's death is people and our involvement in the lives of people are far more important than anything else we can do outside of our relationship with Christ. Thanks to the both of you and I love you very much!
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