So. This is the piece I am choosing to bring to completion today. I started it on December 20, 2021.
I’ve had a rough couple of weeks. Friday night and yesterday, I made time to work on some blog pieces, as some reward for surviving, yet, hitting some glitches, the piece I was focused on cannot yet be completed. It will now need to wait until I can invest the time needed to do it properly. Oh, and as I worked on it, I was also alternating with some watercolor work and other household tasks.
Being a human being, even in this difficult season, should permit me time to be human, too. It can feel as though the weightiness I carry daily will never end. Yet, I keep attempting to press forward, despite discouragements and setbacks, and, maintain my sense of humor.
And that is what prompted me this morning, to decide that if I don’t complete but one blog draft this weekend, for personal satisfaction, I should pick this one.
I have now completed review and edits of this piece, and must confess, my sense of humor today is there, but waning, from the spirit of when I drafted this back in December. But I trust in God’s faithfulness, and that there is a reason I felt inclined toward this piece, this morning. And in the end of this, I have a video song I had selected back in December. I think I will return to this piece, to soundtrack my day, today…as I continue to faithfully press forward…
__________
Resuming this piece March 14, 2022:
I keep eye drops and chapstick on the pillow next to me, because I suffer from dry eye during the night time. About two mornings ago, as I was awaking and feeling my dry eye, I found myself opening the chapstick and about to put it to my eyeball! Ha. Yep. That (almost) happened.
This morning, as I aroused after a long, hard sleep, I looked at my phone, as most of us seem to do these days. Then, I looked at the clock which said it was around 8:30 am. Then, looking again at my phone, I noticed the time was 9:30 am. For a moment I thought, was there a power outage last night? And if so, why would my digital clock be an hour behind, rather than be flashing random red lights, as they do, following an outage.
Momentarily perplexed, I suddenly realized (with snow on ground in mid-March) that when one of the last things I read on FB last night written by a friend said, “I actually love daylight savings time, don’t hate on me!” (along with a cartoon avatar I was more focused on, in terms of whether this virtual thing actually looked like her!) that, she had a reason to have written that. Because in fact, I actually now get an extra hour of daylight, starting today!
And that, is a good thing, for me.
Talk about missing the forest for the trees!
My focus on her cartoon avatar, which if I met it on the street,
ha ha, would not recognize it as this woman
I’ve known over forty years, stood in the way of me
comprehending that this weekend
is actually daylight savings weekend! Ha.
Interesting.
So with that….I think I will put a break here and simply proofcheck what I started and worked on one Saturday back in December, in between watercolor painting as I recall, as some form of personal reward and pleasure.
I suppose these reflections, humor and the research I did on various art images of laughing Jesus, are worth finishing to completion.
“I suppose I could really use prayer today for mundane matters…after 1pm and I am feeling so overwhelmed and paralyzed in focus…and it’s fast approaching Christmas….both business deadlines and otherwise…I really just want to be a human being right now and it seems not fully possible. Ha. Now that would be an unusual prayer request:
‘Dear Jesus, please make Eileen to be a human being!’
Always try to maintain humor under stress. I think Jesus laughs with me but I could be wrong
‘He who sits in the heaven laughs,’ right?!
And with this I should probably put on socks and shoes and go unlock that building….oh dear oh dear oh dear….One of these days…should I put on screaming Jim Morrison on loop today or God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen? Ha. I opt for neither….but…need to get going somehow with something….” (Excerpt from FB post written in December)
below this point is my original blog post draft started december 20, 2021
So what are we to take literally in the Bible? Disagreements over these things are pervasive and unending!
~ Make no graven images
~ Jesus was fully human
~ Humans laugh
~ Humans create art
~ Jesus wept, but it doesn’t specifically say anywhere that he laughed; since it is not mentioned must we assume he didn’t laugh or laughing is prohibited?
And here might be the deepest theological question of the day pertaining to what constitutes sacrilege:
~ Is it OK to critique artwork of Jesus???!!!?
- Getting this first image open in a new tab to screenshot crashed my Google Chrome! Apparently, I already had 35 tabs opened. Thank goodness for the restore feature. This image of Jesus doesn’t particularly appeal to me, artistically.
- This art image of Jesus is super realistic. The artist seems to be trying to capture the full head thrown back, eyes shut and belly laugh?
- I like this one, as a painting. Seems the artist is keeping along traditional thoughts and more safe image creation of Jesus and Joy…even though it comes up under “jesus laughing artwork”.
- NICE. Now we are getting there a little more! This artist is getting a little edgy here. She actually has wine in the Savior’s hand, and…he’s really laughing. Skilled use of color, btw. Reminds me of this painting of Bob Marley. Actually after searching for the painting it reminds me of there are numerous artworks of Bob Marley that have this look and general feel. I just picked one for that link. How do we know what Jesus looked like, btw…certainly the European blue-eyed images of the Savior aren’t quite accurate in literal terms.
OK, I’m still fixated on this one (above).
Who thinks either the artist or Jesus would be shocked by this assemblage in Photoshop?! Ha!
Am I (are we) having fun yet?
YES. You betcha…this is fun!
I’m now putting a “graven image” of “laughing Jesus”
holding a cup of wine alongside some “picture party”
with Bob Marley! HA!
Here’s a bit of trivia…for some possibly…Bob Marley followed the Rastafarian faith. For a brief moment – and that’s all I have on this segment of my break for fun – I can imagine the conversation Bob Marley and Jesus might have over some wine. Right? Regardless of differences in what Bob Marley may or may not have believed about Jesus, Redemption Song is one of his most beautiful pieces.
So before I continue…is anyone tearing their religious garment(s) yet?!
I’m curious! I just tried to find a funny video of religious garment ripping and wasn’t successful…but I did find this! This is funny. It is below, too…just keep scrolling…
Warning, there are two bad words used in this – it’s hard to find a good comedian that doesn’t throw one or two in for dramatic effect – but overall I think this is pretty hilarous!
I don’t know how to do emojis in WordPress…yet… đ
- Back to my Googled “laughing jesus artwork” TOP 10. In Search Result Order, not my personal preference!
- I really like this one a lot, artistically, and otherwise. There’s a very natural look to this one. Definitely a product of contemporary times, in contrast to classical representations of Christ which were often commissioned by the Roman Catholic Church and various other patrons of that time. I also like the artist’s title, Yeshua.
- Moving on to number six of the searched images, which, when opened in a new tab, goes to another blogger in a post that may have some similar elements to this one…I have not read this post but will link it for anyone really that interested in the topic of “Laughing Jesus“…can’t vouch for whatever they think or wrote about this topic but I don’t need to…not sure a doctrine has yet been formed, theologically, on whether, when, how and over what did Jesus laugh and was it a literal laugh or metaphorically internal and secretly hidden?!…I notice they use another image from my search in their writing…I suppose I should stop while I might be ahead…but I won’t…ha ha…I don’t like either of these art images of laughing Jesus. Primarily…um…there are just “issues.” I’ll leave it at that. Oh never mind, I won’t leave it at THAT. The image on the right could possibly be titled “Laughing Jesus With Dentures”?!!
- *ducking lightening bolts*
- I would hate to cast artistic stones here…so let’s just say these remind me of some of my works many years ago. And probably why I switched out of art midway through college! (Actually the real reason was I believed in the immanency of Jesus’ second coming and the thought of all artwork in the world being burned up cast a futility upon me and I decided I should be a missionary, instead. Seriously. True story! I switched to Community and Family Services with an emphasis in SPANISH.)
- Anyway back to my subjective critique of these depictions as being somewhat amateurish and caricatur-ish…the possibility exists that I still have similar current representational issues. Portrait work is extremely difficult and the mouth expression is the hardest. A person’s teeth and many facial muscles work along with the eyes and all else in a very complicated way…nuances of likeness and expressions can be extremely difficult. And honestly, I wouldn’t attempt to depict Laughing Jesus without a good photo reference. And I’m afraid, that might be problematic! You think the Amish hate being photographed. Well…um…oh never mind…lol…I’ll skip all the biblical references coming to mind especially in the Old Testament that I could extend humor to – “proving” that getting a good photo reference of the Divine is very very problematic! That would make for some pretty twisted eisegetic and hermeneutic contortions.
Definition of eisegesis: the interpretation of a text (as of the Bible) by reading into it one’s own ideas â compare exegesis.
Eisegesis Definition & Meaning – Merriam-Webster
- I suppose there are so many additional images of Jesus smiling and laughing…
I have seen this image before used in memes. I just read its source (“Buddy Christ”) here, for a bit of interesting trivia.
Iâm not naturally a dog person but am learning. Recently bought a brand new ball for my sonâs dog Wiley on my way for a visit. Wiley seems to like me and was excited to interact with a repetitive game of catch which appeared to be potentially unending in his mind! After a fun video of this, I was done, but he wasnât. It didnât matter that I was now inside, at table, with my son for dinner, Wiley brought the ball to me, laid it on my knee and sat patiently staring into my eyes⊠fully expecting continued interaction.
Any movement from me excited him that I was about to resume the game, indoors, though I was not. Over and over he kept repositioning this now half-chewed up ball and staring into my eyes. Waiting, waiting.
I finally gave in and threw the ball two feet onto the floor and he excitedly brought it back to me.
What did I learn from this? Canines are relentlessly loyal in pursuing our interactions. Absolutely, unwaveringly, untiringly relentless. It was worse than a 2-year-old, quite frankly!
________
So...how to end this writing?!
Hmmm…….what is YOUR sacred cow?
Maybe.
Maybe I’m being a little spiritually ornery today…but sometimes it can be a little fun to keep people guessing about the nature and depth of my religious beliefs.
I think I like this question better, however…...how do YOU see Jesus?
Post-script, or “How to Actually End this Piece”
Some people may wonder what goes on in the mind and world of a creative person? …well…this…I can’t speak for other creative souls but welcome to my world….especially now that I am virtually immersed in creative solitude! Writing helps me feel human. And I suppose, this is how prayers were answered?
(December 20, 2021) About 6:30 pm I took some slop out for the chickens – soup and pasta as I was tired of eating these leftovers – and was STILL listening to my chosen, fast-paced rhythmic song I’ve been intentionally looping for hours.
I do that. Often. There are many days where I need for just one song to play in background on loop…so that I can fully absorb and benefit from its message, or some other element of it, musically.
I’m actually having fun and this is a good reward/coping outlet for this weekend (again, I started this piece December 20, 2021 and am finalizing it today, March 14, 2022, for the same reason and purpose)…I found myself dancing a little outside on my way down to the chicken coop…seriously…I like some types of dancing and it was just so…spontaneous…and…freeing….I’ll leave my little shuffling-dancing feet to the imagination as you listen to the video of my day’s music…(“dance like no one’s looking” came true for me, today, in that moment…)
I love the line in this musical piece…“someone’s child, a mom or dad…”
These bloopers are fun!
(M. James, J. James)
He sat there on a bench, hunched against the nightâs cold
No jacket, just a scarf, his shoes rundown, so old
He mumbled to himself, as those types often do
And hugged his arms around his chest, each time the wind blew
His expression made me think of a person I once knew
So I threw him a dollar and his sad eyes said, âthank youâ
I thought, as I walked away, âthat could be me somedayâ
And many cold blocks later, that thought was there to stay
CHORUS
I thought about this worldâs strays
Its vagrants, tramps, its castaways,
Someoneâs child, a mom or dad,
Or the friend I never had?
I walked the long walk back, against a driving sleet
Filled with good intentions, and a measure of conceit
The icy bench was empty, but his scarf, it still lay there
I sat down beside it, and began to really care
Chilled to the bone I wrapped his scarf around my collar
Hours passed, people passed, one tossed me a dollar
I felt the icy blasts of wind, I felt the falling snow
I felt so much wiser then, than just three hours ago,
CHORUS
At three a.m. a man came by, He gave me quite a start
When he sat down by me, I felt the beating of my heart
He didnât say a word, just sat there really still
And though weâd never met, I felt I knew him well
Another hour passed as we endured the winter storm
But, when he arose to leave, I suddenly felt warm
His hopeful eyes met mine and I felt him search me deep
As darkness closed around him, I heard, âFeed my sheepâ
CHORUS
Photography by Johnny Giles
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