the artist

Monday, May 28


I am so excited for you to meet Amanda today! Amanda and I met in college, and very quickly realized we were practically the same person! We both loved history, studied abroad in Italy, and love Jesus, travel, and all things Jane Austin! Amanda and her husband live in Okinawa, Japan, and have the most beautiful pictures to show for it on her blog, Marshalls Abroad. She is a JOY, and I love her, and I know you will too! Enjoy! 
love Katie 

 My darling friend, Katie! Thank you for having me while you're on your UK-Euro adventure!!

I have been thinking a lot lately about art in it's various forms, whether it be photography, cooking, writing, furniture-making, interior design. There are so many ways to develop creativity and so many ways to communicate to each other.
But what I've been thinking on the most since living on this beautiful little island in Japan is about The Artist. The Lord God Himself. 
This early morning I woke up to the same gorgeous sight I wake up to every morning - the blue turquoise of the East China Sea on our front yard, the waves gently crashing just below our home where the sugarcane meets the sand. The birds singing. Clear skies. It's my favorite time of day here. The sunlight is soft as I walk through my neighbor's plots of farmland - huge heads of lettuce, tomatoes, bananas, green beans - past the goats making their morning noises, down a path and onto the sand where I run. I was mentally bowing my head and singing praises to the Lord with a huge smile on my face. His creation literally cries out in beauty and in song and in joy. 
It's good to be quiet sometimes. It's good to be surrounded by nothing but the outdoors.. and in our case while we live here, the glorious crashing waves. When my husband and I lived in DC, we'd literally have to leave the city atleast once a weekend and drive as far out into Virginia as we could to take a break from smog, crowds, concrete. We've learned the importance of slowing down, being quiet and being surrounded by hills, mountains, ocean, fields, river, vineyards, streams. God's voice in nature is unmistakable! 
As I sit on our balcony admiring my neighbor's red tile Japanese roof contrasted against the turquoise sea and greens of lush trees and bushes with the song of birds and waves, I feel as if I'm sitting in the Lord's sanctuary. He created all this!!! He is the artist behind it all. And I think the point is that God gives us a mind to logically work out that the heavens are declaring something, are communicating something: they are speaking of the glory of the Person who made them

"He who forms the mountains,
creates the wind
and reveals His thoughts to man,
He who turns dawn to darkness,
and treads the high places of the earth
the Lord God Almighty is His name."
{Amos 4:13}

5 comments :

  1. Lovely post. I love Amanda and your blog is adorable as well. My husband actually taught English in Thailand as well so I was immediately drawn to your insights about that amazing country (I'm dying to go!)

    Great blog!

    Catherine (your newest follower)
    FEST (food, style & travel)

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  2. I love this and I feel the same way when I look at the mountains, and the amazing wildlife I get to see everyday in Alaska.

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  3. love this post. wonderfully written. ditto to everything she just said :)

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  4. SO excited to have found your blog!! Your guest blog at Marshall's Abroad was EXACTLY what I needed to hear today---sometimes, you just need to go! I love it! I'm your newest follower. :)


    ~Tiffany
    http://tiffanyd22.blogspot.com

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  5. Well this is simply two of the greatest women living in the same post :)

    Love, Anna

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