“Steven, are you sure you understand what do?”
“It’s drawing,” I said, “I always understand drawing.”
I was in the second grade. My teacher, Ms. Foster, was so nice to me. She tolerated my short attention span, my outbursts, my inability to follow directions. She had decided I was “artistic” and she loved that about me. I could do no wrong in Ms. Foster’s class. (I had so few teachers like her!)
The assignment was based on a story the class had read the day before. But I had been absent the day before. Still, how hard could it be? It was drawing, right? I loved to draw. In the second grade, I LIVED to draw!
The story was called “The Still Pond” and each of us was going to illustrate it.
I collected my 11 x 17 manila paper and my box of crayons and I got to work! I started with the pond, of course. And a tree next to it. And a frog jumping into the water. And a turtle. Make that a family of turtles. And a family of ducks, with lots of little ducklings. And fish leaping from the water.
What else lives around water? I asked myself. Oh yeah! I drew lobsters. And crabs. And seagulls. And pelicans. And geese. And swans. And two men fishing. And a motorboat. And water skiers. And a bear catching a salmon in its mouth. And sharks attacking killer whales. Blue whales blowing water from their blowholes. And dragonflies. And cattails. And lily pads. And snakes.
And I kept asking myself the same question: What else happens around water? And then I would add another detail to the picture. A waterfall. A geyser. A wave with someone surfing. Two children building sand castles. Rubber rafts. Canoes. Sailboats. Yachts. Ocean liners.
By the time I was finished, I had drawn something more complicated than an engineering schematic, the busiest, most over-drawn, ridiculously crowded picture you can imagine. But Ms. Foster loved it. She hung it up for the school’s open-house the following week.
When my parents came to the open-house, all the adults had a good laugh. I could not figure out what was so funny. This was a masterpiece! All the other kids just drew a tiny blue pond with one bored frog over on the bank doing nothing. My drawing had more animals than Noah’s Ark!
Eventually my mom explained to me that a ‘still pond’ was a pond where nothing was happening. Where things were still. I had created a fantastical picture of all the busy marine life in the world gathered around a single little pond. The wealth of detail was pretty good for an eight-year-old. But of course, I had completely missed the point.
Nevertheless, the differences between things often come down to details. It is details that tell the story. Details transform a room into a home. Details transform vague, general notions into well-developed ideas.
The Bible encourages praise. But that statement alone is rather general. By contrast, Psalm 148 tells us to praise the Lord—and then specifically encourages praise from every creature in the universe. Read the detailed words of this song lyric. Read it slowly enough to let it paint a picture in your mind. Try to imagine every creature and created thing the songwriter mentions:
Praise the Lord! …
Praise Him, all His angels;
Praise Him, all His hosts!
Praise Him, sun and moon;
Praise Him, all stars of light!
Praise Him, highest heavens,
And the waters that are above the heavens! …
Praise the Lord from the earth,
Sea monsters and all deeps;
Fire and hail, snow and clouds;
Stormy wind, fulfilling His word;
Mountains and all hills;
Fruit trees and all cedars;
Beasts and all cattle;
Creeping things and winged fowl;
Kings of the earth and all peoples;
Princes and all judges of the earth;
Both young men and virgins;
Old men and children.
Let them praise the name of the Lord …
Praise the Lord!
Psalm 148:1-14.
Dear God, thank You for Your amazing word that shows us how to live—and how to praise. May we praise You always, honoring You in the manner that You deserve. Train us to “Rejoice always,” to “praise the Lord at all times.” Give us details that we can mention as we praise You: Your attributes, Your greatness, Your holiness, Your love, Your grace, Your salvation, Your wisdom. We praise You for all your amazing qualities. Teach us to appreciate those details.
AΩ.
Household Words: 