Eternity In Their Hearts

"What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied.He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.
I know of nothing better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of his labor - it is the gift of God.
I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it."
Ecc. 3:11-14

I've had two inquiries about the Van Gogh quote. Here is pretty much what I told my friend, Katie, via email:

Oh, about the Van Gogh prayer. Poor Vincent. He was a bit unstable, I believe. I mean, who knows what his real story was, but he was not what I would call a "Christian," although who can say. The prayer was beautiful, though, wasn't it? Maybe I should say the words were beautiful. Van Gogh's religion reminds me of Leo Tolstoy's, this desire to be perfect and poor when God had made neither of them perfect, nor poor. Instead of this frustration driving them to Christ, it almost drove them mad. It eventually drove Tolstoy to write his own version of the Bible, finally concluding that he would never be able to keep the version that God wrote very well. Sad, but true. Still, Van Gogh is to be pitied, he was so lonely, in part the maker of his own misery. I am fascinated by his story for some reason, maybe it's like watching a train wreck. Well, enough of that.

If you're interested, Fyodor Dostoevsky got much closer to the truth and wrote about it beautifully, compellingly. Once upon a time, I had the energy, time, and inclination to study, compare and contrast Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. It was worth the time invested.

Another creative person who has fascinated me is J.S. Bach. I have an autobiography on my shelf that is one of my all-time favorite books. Another wonderful study in how our theology affects our everyday life.

What is interesting to me about each of these people is that they were just trying to live their life, make a living, find, connect and use the words (and music) they had inside, this little flame kindled by God in their souls. Bach was a genius, but he spent almost his entire life unappreciated and underpaid in a church where people never "got it." He simply did his best, and he did it cheerfully, making friends and having children along the way. These men all learned how to get along in a broken world, just like we do.

But still, there was something transcendent about their lives. They seem to rise above the rest of us and fascinate us with the light they spill into places where there is darkness, no words, no beauty, no music, places where there is no other genius, no other spark. Most of us are muted by history, and these people speak for us. What they say, in whatever form, speaks what we would say if we could sing, write, draw, paint, or compose. And sometimes, maybe it is even more than that...

I think God gives us good gifts when he sends creative genius among us - they have burdens we do not; burdens they carry for us, in a sense, because in burning their own wicks low they illuminate humanity - and eternity - for us. We feel and sense with our souls that what they say, draw, write, sing, or compose is real and deeply human in a way that not everything we see possibly can be. We feel the truth of what they are saying to us, even if we can't express it in our own words. It rings a bell deep within us of something we seem to have forgotten. We recognize what is from God: what is good, beautiful, and true.
We are never more human than when we are what God intends for us to be, never more like ourselves than when we are like Him. True art reflects eternity, and God has put it into our own hearts, like "deep calling unto deep." (Ecc. 3:11)

"Oh, empty my heart -
I've got to make room for this feeling
So much bigger than me..."
(Imogen Heap)


Sometimes God uses His own mended children to do this, but more often than not, He uses the broken vessels unfit for much else than spilling.
And they do.
Thank God.