From a distance, it looked like someone was standing with their arms outstretched to heaven, but as I continued to stare, the arms remained raised. “How can anyone hold their arms in the air this long?” I wondered. Other beachgoers would stop and congregate around the figure. Were they having a conversation? Now that my curiosity was piqued, I had to find out who or what this mysterious figure might be. So, I roused myself from my beach chair and took a walk down the sand. As I got closer, I could see that it wasn’t a person, and it wasn’t alive. It was certainly man-made. Could it be a figure of a giraffe? I needed to get closer.
Finally, I was close enough to see that someone had set up two driftwood posts and then had laid another driftwood log across them. Was this art? It raised my curiosity, engaged my imagination, and pulled me out of my beach chair, so, yes, I will call it art. This simple art installation has caused me to think about perception. Why did I see hands raised to heaven? Why did I see a giraffe? Did anyone else see what I saw?
When I got back to my beach chair, my wife asked what I had gone to see. “Did it inspire you?” she asked.
“Yes, but not in the same way as the rolling surf.”
Although I am made in the image of God, and my creativity is a mirror of His, there is a difference in magnitude. The wooden posts were made by God and His ocean currents weathered them. A person placed the driftwood in a pattern, but God’s waves will still be rearranging the shoreline long after the art piece is washed away.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” (Psalm 19:1 KJV)