Great message today JB - I especially loved your niece's quote. When I first read the title, the first thing I thought of was the calligraphic definition of the word "flourish."
In the art of lettering, the little added swoops, spirals, spins, etc. that you sometimes see on (mostly) capital letters and sometimes at the ends of words or lines in a piece are called flourishes. To a calligrapher - the word means something decorative, added on, which hopefully improves the artistic impact of the piece. Beginners often get too excited about flourishing, and add too much stuff - thereby overly complicating the piece and creating a distraction, rather than adding beauty. So we had two recommendations for this: Less is more. When in doubt, leave it out.
In the context of your message today - I can still see application. God wants to add on to us, as His children. He wants to embellish us and make us more beautiful. But we need to let Him, the master calligrapher, decide what to add to each of us. If we run about trying to flourish our own lives, we are apt to overdo it, or put the wrong decorative element in the wrong place and end up with a fussy, unattractive whole that others do not find pleasing. Perhaps the "goody two shoes" kind of Christian is the result of this - of people seeking to add on all the outward accoutrements of goodness, rather than letting the Father, through His Word and the work of the Spirit - build them up on the inside, in the heart, which can then radiate beautiful attributes in all the right ways and places to the rest of the world - creating a person who attracts others to Christ, rather than repels them.
Words never cease to fascinate me! At first I thought my definition of "flourish" didn't really relate to yours. But in the end, I think it does. As you said, it comes from our turning to Him, and letting Him do the work within us!! Here's to swashing and swooping in ways that honor Him!!
Kerry Laughren Hedley - Calligrapher and fellow writer
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
In the art of lettering, the little added swoops, spirals, spins, etc. that you sometimes see on (mostly) capital letters and sometimes at the ends of words or lines in a piece are called flourishes. To a calligrapher - the word means something decorative, added on, which hopefully improves the artistic impact of the piece. Beginners often get too excited about flourishing, and add too much stuff - thereby overly complicating the piece and creating a distraction, rather than adding beauty. So we had two recommendations for this: Less is more. When in doubt, leave it out.
In the context of your message today - I can still see application. God wants to add on to us, as His children. He wants to embellish us and make us more beautiful. But we need to let Him, the master calligrapher, decide what to add to each of us. If we run about trying to flourish our own lives, we are apt to overdo it, or put the wrong decorative element in the wrong place and end up with a fussy, unattractive whole that others do not find pleasing. Perhaps the "goody two shoes" kind of Christian is the result of this - of people seeking to add on all the outward accoutrements of goodness, rather than letting the Father, through His Word and the work of the Spirit - build them up on the inside, in the heart, which can then radiate beautiful attributes in all the right ways and places to the rest of the world - creating a person who attracts others to Christ, rather than repels them.
Words never cease to fascinate me! At first I thought my definition of "flourish" didn't really relate to yours. But in the end, I think it does. As you said, it comes from our turning to Him, and letting Him do the work within us!! Here's to swashing and swooping in ways that honor Him!!
Kerry Laughren Hedley - Calligrapher and fellow writer
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
