My dad died this year. He had cancer and on the day he found out that it was terminal he came to my house. He became very practical and said he wanted me to have his art books and to take up art again. When I was a child we used to go abroad every year and my dad used to do sculptures out of the local stone. He also painted some views in oils. Back in the UK he experimented with plaster of paris and made some really unusual maze like sculptural forms. It was only when he retired that he began to devote himself more fully to art and over a number of years painted some wonderful pictures. He continued to experiment putting extra materials onto surfaces making them more interesting. He had his own style and was very much a colourist. Years ago I did an art qualification and then years later I did an art foundation course and then like my dad I have found myself busy. So his challenge to get back to art is one I need to act on…

At the weekend I was at my parents house and I was looking around the art space my dad had. There leant against the easel was an unfinished picture. I had overlooked it before as I had been drawn to the pictures that were finished but suddenly this picture became poignant. It reminded me of the words of a minister at my husband’s mums funeral not long ago. She too died this year. It has been a difficult couple of months. The minister had visited my husband and his brother at my mother-in-laws home and they tried to share with him what she was like. Whilst the minister was there he was shown an unfinished tapestry she had done. She had belonged to a school of needlework and had sewn pictures of landscapes and buildings. It was a picture of the back garden at her home. My mother-in-law was a great home maker and a woman who was interested in others and what was happening in the world. At the funeral the minister spoke of her being an anchor to many and how like the unfinished tapestry the challenge now she was no longer there was to continue on. To keep in relationship with the people she brought together. Similarly now that my dad is not here the unfinished picture speaks to me of continuing on with the legacy of his love of paintings something to inspire. To see the unfinished picture as a reminder to make the most of the life I have.

As a child I used to watch a children’s programme called Blue Peter. They would often have something that viewers could make at home. They would show them each stage. They would say at each stage “and here is one I prepared earlier”. In the book of Ephesians in Chapter 2 verse 10 it says that “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (NIV) I love reading about Christians who have made an impact for good in the world. They have been changed by the love of Jesus and then have brought change to others through their convictions. Whether it has been prison reform, caring for animals, being there to listen to the problems of others, campaigning for the abolition of the slave trade, improving working conditions, caring for the sick, supporting the poor, challenging injustice in whatever form or looking after their families. Those people have left an unfinished masterpiece. They have left a legacy that we must not take for granted and one we need to continue in whatever way we are able. And in todays world there are fresh challenges and concerns that need attention as people are moved and compelled to do what they can.

Sometimes we don’t have people who have cared for us or given us a good example. The wonderful thing about receiving God’s love for us and learning from the bible is that this love and truth can help us live and love differently giving us a hope and a future.

I don’t know whether you have got busy in life. Are there talents that you have not been using or nurturing. There is a time and season for everything. As you have opportunity around your commitments maybe you could consider finding time to use them.

If you are grieving I pray you encounter the love of Jesus for you in all your questions and pain. May you know comfort. Matthew 5:4 says “blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. I love the bit in the bible in Revelation 21:4 when it speaks of a time to come when “he will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (NIV)