No piece of art is more beautiful than a child's smile

With Thanksgiving around the corner, and Christmas not far behind, thoughts of gratitude and giving are close at heart.

For those of modest means, the holidays are also a time to be mindful of money, to keep within a budget. But let’s face it, the pressure to spend is sometimes overwhelming.

While mulling over our holiday budget, I recalled a news story that popped up on my Facebook page.

The image that accompanied the story reminded me of a child’s blackboard covered with rows of circles, the kind you draw when covering up a line of text or doodling on a page. 

Actually, the image was a renowned work of art by American abstract artist Cy Twombly, and it brought in $70.5 million at a recent
auction at Sotheby’s.

A description of the painting explains it was created in 1970, as part of a blackboard series made of white wax crayon lines aginst a gray background, executed in four rows of exuberant scrawl ... using a strict process that was derived from handwriting techniques that children first learn in school.

I was speechless…except for the “seriously??” that slipped out of my mouth.

In reviewing the list of artwork sold at that auction, my incredulity grew. Forty-four pieces made sales of nearly $295 million, more than the gross domestic product of some small countries.

I realized I had no true sense of the wealth some people have accumulated, people who think in millions the way most of us think in dollars and cents.  I could not fathom having $70 million in pin money and certainly could never rationalize spending it on a piece of art … not when there was so much good that could be done with so much money.

Imagine the communities that could be helped, the food pantries that could be filled to overflowing for years, the homes and lives that could be rebuilt following a hurricane or other natural disaster, the people who could be trained and employed so families could have a decent standard of living, the children who could be educated.

To put it in just a bit of perspective, $70 million could pay for cleft palate repair for some 280,000 children through an international organization. No piece of art is more beautiful than the smile of a child.

The Gospel of Luke is clear: Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more. 

Still, it is easy for us to fall into the trap of expecting those who have so much, an obscene amount my dad would say, to foot the bill for good deeds, for making the lives of others better. Our true task as Christians is to evaluate what it means to have much, and then reflect on what God is calling us to do.

I remember a YouTube video of shoppers in a food court in a local mall. A young man went to some tables and told the customers he hadn’t eaten for a while and asked if he could have a bit of their food. Across the board, they said no.

The scene changed to some who were homeless and who had just been given a bag of food from a local restaurant. The recipients were generous in their gratitude, so much so that when a young man approached each of them, separately, and asked if they could give him something to eat because he was hungry, they all shared the little they had been given without hesitation.

It seems to me that Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday to celebrate before Christmas, because it can help us to focus on the blessings of God, and to enter Advent and Christmas from a place of gratitude for our God who gave us a priceless gift – his son.

Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.  Luke 12:48

Comments

[Linda]

Lovely and inspiring post and blog. Thank you so much for sharing.

[Mary Morrell]

Thank you, Linda. I am very grateful for my readers. I believe you are the ones who make a real difference in the world.