I began writing this word a few weeks ago but did not have the final content until this morning. The word was parked away in my writing file until an image came that gave the word its intended content. The word is about drawing lines in the sands of life.

We all draw lines. We draw lines based on what we will allow as an influence in our lives.  We draw lines when it comes to protecting our family. Other lines are drawn to define the expression of our faith and worldview. There is nothing wrong with any of these lines if they are drawn with wisdom and love.

There is another kind of line that defines something greater. The image I saw was an artist sketching the outline of a portrait. It revealed an artist standing before an easel drawing the initial lines of what would someday become a completed portrait. The artist was creating a portrait of Jesus.

People are drawing a lot of lines in the sands of late. Some of these are righteous lines. Others are based on fear and misunderstanding. The problem with all the lines being drawn is the confusing menu of opinions they offer. Another kind of line is being drawn. These lines are being drawn by people hungry for simplicity and clarity in their faith. These new lines are not drawn at our feet like a line in the sand. Drawing lines in the sand keeps our heads down. Sketching a portrait keeps our head up looking at the frame of something developing that is above the current struggles of the moment. Instead of standing behind a line in the sand, the Lord asks His artists to keep painting as they move the easel of His testimony forward through each season of life.

We are at a place of stalemate, a stalemate where everyone is standing behind lines drawn in the sand. As Scripture tells us, we are sojourners in this life always moving toward our eternal home. Sojourners move the easel of their portrait forward crossing stationery lines in the sand establishing the presence and image of the Lord in new territory – a territory only seen by spiritual artists who sketch under the influence of the artistic hand of God.