Great artists crave appreciation

There’s one thing artists crave more than food. And, that’s appreciation.

All humankind craves appreciation.

The thing is that we were created to be appreciative by the great artist.

When he spoke his first words, “Let there be light”, he got the ball rolling. He called light, day and separated it from dark, night.

He was pleased. And, this was only day one.

Like all artists, God wanted someone to appreciate and be in awe of his great work.

So he created humankind in his own image to be in awe of his creation.

He saw the world through each one of their eyes and he was pleased.

Humankind appreciates little

But, soon he must have realised that humankind appreciated little.

So, he manufactured the original sin. Humankind fell from grace and was separated from Eden. And from him.

He brought darkness and separation to humankind.

It was only when humankind was disconnected from God that they realised what they’d lost.

And, ever since then, humankind has been trying to get back to their source and reconnect with it. That’s our real journey, today.

• If there’s not darkness, there cannot be light.
• If we don’t struggle and suffer, how do we know what happiness is?
• If we don’t struggle and suffer how do we appreciate it when the struggle and suffering ends?
• How can we be grateful?
• How can we be in awe?

Our greatest sin

Our greatest sin is ingratitude. We were given the perfect home and the perfect life. All that was required of humankind was to be in awe and gratitude for the great work of art we live in.

Humankind and its self-indulgent, entitled nature stuffed that up good and solid.

As instruction, let’s take a tiny event in time. The impending ‘Day Zero’ in Cape Town is almost upon us. The day the taps run dry, darkness will descend upon South African humankind.

Nobody appreciated the Eden we were in. Nobody appreciated the water supply. There was no awe and gratitude for this great blessing. Judging by the way we’re destroying God’s masterpiece, the darkness is only going to get worse.

Oh, you thought you were his masterpiece?

Maybe.

But, perhaps you and I are just meant to be the witnessers of his masterpiece.

And, if you believe we are his masterpiece, then we’re stuffing that up as well. Our smoking, drinking, drugs, avarice, selfishness and carelessness is destroying humankind.

Can you imagine how aggrieved we’d be if someone defaced Leonardo da Vinci’s, Mona Lisa? The world would be in uproar. We would find it hard to believe that a right-thinking human could commit such a terrible thing. Why, it could only be psychopathic degenerate who could do such a revolting deed, couldn’t it?

By that logic, then it can only be a degenerate who would stuff up his or her own body and the planet that houses it, couldn’t it?

It’s sad that we would be more upset by the destruction of a Mona Lisa than the destruction of our own bodies and planet.

Thus, we were created to bear witness to God’s great masterpiece. He sees every nook and cranny of his art through our eyes.

He painted this picture and gave us this story to enchant and entertain us. All he wants in return is appreciation. He doesn’t get that enough (or at all) so he gives us his great gift, the gift of suffering. It is only when we don’t have that we appreciate what we do have.

For there to be light, there has to be darkness. It is the way of things.

The trick for us is to appreciate every moment we have left on this plane. Let’s be in awe and gratitude for this great gift that we have right now.

God’s an artist. You’re an artist. Let’s celebrate and appreciate this.

Jacques de Villiers helps organisations, professional speakers, authors and entrepreneurs triumph through: sales training, motivational speaking and consulting.