Truth Telling

A large part of the call on my life, as a creative, has been to tell the truth as I experience it. As an author and artist, a significant part of how I am called to move throughout the world is to reflect back what I have seen and experienced. The artist is, after all, a creative, a dreamer, a prophet, an empath. We see and feel and perceive the things society so often tells us to ignore. We feel them deeply, and experience the pain of injustice in our own bodies. And then we must do something with all of that creative power. In undergrad at SF State, my creative writing professors advised us to "write what we know." Learning to do so authentically and without shame has been a skill I have learned to exercise over time. To be honest, I don't know how to not tell the truth about what I have experienced and what I see reflected in the world. That fact may be off-putting to some, but it is just how I am wired.

Lately, however, I have been met with some resistance when it comes to writing about the truth, because the truth of what life has been lately has not been pretty. Political divisiveness spurred on by a selfish, elitist leader in the United States. Demonic and intolerable war abroad, genocide and havoc ensuing, between Israel and Gaza, Ukraine and Russia. Social injustice revealed in high costs of living and inflation. Environmental imbalance and disruption. And that's just on a surface, global level.

Then there are the interpersonal battles we all fight much closer to home. Navigating grief and an unpredictable job market. Family members navigating cancer treatments. Passing of close friends. Rising tax prices. Just all the things.

I have missed writing this blog (over the past few months), but to be honest, it has been hard to know what to share which might be encouraging to others. Not that writing has to be an encouraging thing, but let's face it: I would rather leave the world a little better than I found it. I would rather create beautiful things, whether they be art pieces or strung-together-words, which inspire little pockets of hope.

But maybe telling the truth is the truest call of the artist. Not just to make things beautiful, but to be honest. So here is the truth as I see it:

Life is beautiful and the world is tired. She groans for the sons and daughters of man to be revealed. She longs for the fullest flourishing of all of God's kids. She cries for ceasefire in war torn countries, where babies are torn apart, limb from limb. She pleads for wholeness for whole people groups who have been oppressed or unjustly discriminated against. She longs for space for those who are stifled and feel they have no voice.

The earth is longing for more. I believe we, people made in the image of God, are longing for more. I personally, am longing for more.

Perhaps telling the truth about the gap where desire and longing meet waiting and frustration will itself inspire hope. Perhaps it can inspire camaraderie that most of us do long for human flourishing and a vibrant earth and peaceful cities and a celebration of diversity. Perhaps it will be affirming to share that many of us are feeling the tension of living in the times of the "already/not yet."

Perhaps hope doesn't have to always look up and to the right, but being honest in itself is hopeful enough. So here's my truth:

I want things to change. I am ready for things to change. It seems the earth is ready for things to change. I want the inhabitants of our world to desire for things to change for the flourishing and well-being off all human beings, despite our differences, now.

"For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed."

Romans 8:19 (NIV)