Small Daily Strokes
Episcopal Diocese of Washington
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Bishop Mariann’s Blog
Small Daily Strokes
Thursday, December 08, 2011
“It is the small daily strokes that create the painting, no matter how large the canvas.”
—John McQuiston II, Always We Begin Again
Many of you kindly ask how I am doing in these first weeks as bishop. My first, genuine response is that I’m thrilled to be here and grateful for the privilege of being your bishop. My second response is cliché, but true: I often feel I’m holding a tea cup before a gushing fire hydrant. I want to catch all the water, but it’s more than my cup can hold.
But I’ve felt this way before, and I know others have as well. Life often gives us more than we can hold, and asks us to do more than is humanly possible. The question becomes, what do we do then? How do we make ourselves large enough for the lives we’re living?
In his book, The Three Marriages, David Whyte writes that any challenging, larger-than-life situation simply necessitates a step-by-step concentrated approach, an absolute presence in the moment, while preparing for the next move. “Freedom comes through a persistent all-encompassing tenacity.”
I’m learning yet again that no matter how large the task, what matters most are the small strokes that create a painting, the modest steps that move us forward. I’m reminded that while God occasionally gives me a glimpse of the far horizon, most often I receive only sufficient vision for the steps I must take today. But it is sufficient. My task is to be faithful to what I can see and do today.
Frank Jacob
Remember, too, the saying in Aesop's fable of The Tortoise and the Hare: slow and steady wins the race. Smaller strokes avoid larger mistakes, too! Peace, Frank
Mariann Budde
True insights, Nancy and Frank. Thank you.
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nancy hildebrand
There is more to a vision than we can see or describe. The painter starts with an idea, but time and the work of the Spirit unleash amazing things as the work proceeds. Two forces are at work. The first is a glimmer of glory, the second is the work of the Holy Spirit to something greater than we can imagine. It struck me in a very deep way when viewing a movie based on the painting by Peter Breughel, The Way to Calvary. The movie was the Mill and the Cross. Jesus is sequestered in the center of the painting amidst the life surging all around it. No one around could imagine what was about to happen. Nan