Exalted - Reposted

I originally posted this back in 2015, but it popped up today in one of my memories and I felt a spiritual nudge to share it again. With a newly published book, I'm already thinking is not as good as it should be (I went from thinking it is the best I've ever written, to who wrote this mess?) I also have a new, almost finished painting I think is my best. It is, but I think God is telling me to be careful and not become too exalted. 

Original post from October 2015

Original Art by Cecilia Marie Pulliam

Jesus said, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 14:11

When I first began art lessons, my dad encouraged me and gave me a challenge with each painting. “That’s good, Sisser, but not as good as Jackson.”

Jackson was a regional artist whose large painting hung in our living room. For years I worked hard to be as good an artist as Jackson. Then one day, I gave my dad a painting of one of his favorite subjects: a ponderosa pine, an old cabin, and mountains draped in snow.

My dad said, “It’s just as good as Jackson’s.”

I was thrilled.

Then he added, “But not as good as Charles Russell.”

He was right. I was better than some, but not as good as others.

It’s the same for life in general. I am not the least, nor the greatest, but somewhere in between. I prefer sitting in a back corner rather than at the head of the table, if possible. I am not exclusively an introvert, but rather a mix with some traits of both the introvert and the extrovert. I can talk up a storm in a one-on-one conversation but clam up in large groups.

I don’t want, or seek the limelight, but I don’t want to be ignored either. In other words, I am part of the general populace, neither all good nor all bad, neither extremely talented nor without talent, neither exalted nor cast out.

According to Luke, that’s a good place to be.

I’ll be happy for a backseat in heaven but would be ecstatic if God nodded in my direction and said, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” 

To that end, I must continue to live and work, without making comparisons, without declaring my unworthiness, without calling out my goodness. I’ll leave that up to God. I just want to get through that gate.