Hi, this is Joni inviting you into my art studio today.
Welcome to Joni and Friends and if you were here at our International Disability Center today and enjoying a tour, one of the highlights (or, at least, I hope you’d think it was a highlight) would be a visit to my art studio. I’ve got lots of half-worked-on paintings propped here and there, a little candy dish (that first Christmas I was in the hospital, I painted a whole bunch of candy dishes as presents for my family; I still have one or two I put on display). Also when people visit my art studio, I like giving a few art lessons about how to paint light – and really make it glow – and what sorts of biblical lessons we can learn from that.
There’s also a little plaque I would show you – something I’ve kept and treasured since my first week in occupational therapy back in the hospital. I’ll never forget, it was my OT who plopped this damp, oval-shaped piece of clay in front of me, and then she put a sharp wooden dowel in my mouth and told me to etch something in the clay. I gave her a funny look like, “You want me to do what?!” I told my occupational therapist, “No way.” Sure, I knew how to draw, but you know, that was when I had use of my hands.
She persisted, so I agreed. “But what should I draw?” I asked her. She said, “Anything you like; anything you’re good at drawing.” Well, I reluctantly gripped the wooden dowel between my teeth and began to slowly (with very shaky neck movements) I etched a line drawing of a cowboy riding a bucking bronco. When I finished, oh my goodness, I was so amazed! My occupational therapist was so proud; she put a glaze on it, stuck it in the kiln, and to this day – over 40 years later – there it sits on a little stand in my art studio for all to see. And every person who looks at it, I have the chance to share that, “Yes, the talent really does reside in your head and in your heart, not in your hands.” We never can really appreciate the gifts and talents God gives us until we start using them – and use them (like I did) in faith.
Finally, before anyone leaves my art studio, I always like to give them a gift – it could be something small I picked up on a Wheels for the World trip overseas or maybe a hand-painted plate or a little necklace. But often, I like to give guests my Christmas cards – I mean, look, God has been so generous to me with my ability to paint holding those brushes in my teeth, friend, I just want to pass on the blessing.
And I’d like to do that with you today – so pretend you’re in my art studio and we’re about to leave and I hand you a packet of three of my favorite Christmas cards with gold foil-lined envelopes. One of the Christmas cards shows a little girl on a frosty night gazing up into the soft streams of light coming through a church stained-glass window – a window which shows Mary holding baby Jesus. You can almost feel the crisp air and touch the snow on the girl’s face. I tell visitors that when I painted this scene, I wanted to capture all the wonder of a child at Christmastime. Anyway, that’s one of the cards and I think you’ll enjoy the other two in the packet, as well. All with envelopes; all ready for you to use at Christmas time.
So, for your packet of three of my Christmas cards, just go online to joniandfriends.org and click on our radio page. Three of my Christmas cards with envelopes just for you. Finally, if your travels ever bring you to southern California, you are always welcome to come by for a visit to our Joni and Friends International Disability Center – and when you come, don’t forget to visit my art studio.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 91376
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