At home I have a Claude Monet print called “The Path”. It’s a print, not a painting. I want to make that perfectly clear or somebody might want to steal it. Once, I told my boss I owned that Monet print and he had corrected me. “You own a Monet print,” he said. “If you owned one of his paintings you wouldn’t be working here.” Some Monets are worth millions, and millionaires own them.
The print I own is gold-framed, and in glass, and has, at the center of his painting, a small, white church steeple towering over a small town in-between two hills and a green and gold meadow with orange flowers by green, leafy trees. They are all underneath a blue sky with puffy white clouds on a summer day. And, at the bottom-right, is the tan, sandy path that leads past the meadow under some shade trees to the town. It’s a totally beautiful painting that I’ve admired many times.
“The Path” reminds me of verse 3 of the 23rd Psalm that reads: “he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” The flowers, church, trees, hills and sky all show attributes of God. The flowers remind us that there will always be beauty and renewal through God’s mercy and strength in an ugly world. The church was made by humans, but by the guidance of God, and is a sanctuary and a place of order. The trees provide shade and resemble humans that stand and remain strong and patient, in season and out of season, and reach toward the sky and point to God, and his throne, up in heaven, his headquarters and the center of this and who knows how many more universes. And the hills are high and large, reminding us of the giant God the Father, himself, giving fortunate viewers much-needed humility amidst all of the world’s pride.
These descriptions of “The Path” are only what I’m seeing, right now, while thinking about it, much like Claude Monet never completely finished it, because the canvas, underneath, can be seen. Nothing should be an idol before God. We are all creative, but if we won’t abide by the rules of the universe we can’t create fine art. Any little thing can mess it up. We are creative in every field, not just art, but users and abusers have ruined the world’s institutions, and the patriarchs and matriarchs have moved on. There are probably countless other descriptions and dimensions of “The Path” because it’s fine art and it has life.
Claude Monet, who painted “The Path”, and Israel’s king David, who, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote the 23rd Psalm about the paths that we take, made fine art for billions of people that will last, when others won’t.
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