January 25, 2012 - Why are we doing this?

Day 25

Today's ACIM workbook lesson is:

 "I do not know what anything is for".

[Marsha's thoughts]

The Starbird Show at Eureka Thyme

Today's lesson comes at a particularly pertinent time for me, in which I'm examining why I'm selling art. In Northwest Arkansas, we have recently had an amazing museum open its doors. This has prompted much speculation amongst art dealers as to what affect this will have on us. We are being advised that many buyers will be flooding into our area, with expectations of world class art, and that we should raise our prices to show them that we are capable of competing on a global level. This doesn't feel right to me. And so today's lesson of "I do not know what anything is for" is a perfect format for the questioning I'm doing as to why I'm selling art. I've always asked prospective buyers to go with how the piece they're considering makes them feel. Does it bring a smile to your face? Will it add beauty and grace to your life? If it does, it's worthy of a place in your home. And from the other side, the artists we represent bring forth their art from Love. One of our artists describes her style as abstract naturalism. Her love of nature glows forth in every painting she brings to canvas. Another artist births what she sometimes calls primal images. These fabric creations are profoundly moving.. For me, they bring forth emotions which perhaps have been hiding for years.But this is neither here nor there. When this art comes forth, it is not examined for what it does for the artist or for the appreciator of it. When I put it on the wall it is not placed there because of how much money it will bring in. My exercise today is to allow everything to Be, with Love expressed all around, and to let its real meaning and purpose come forth without my personal meaning being projected onto it.

Mary Baker Eddy's spiritual interpretation of this line of the Lord's Prayer:

'Give us this day our daily bread'

"Give us grace for today; feed the famished affections." Science & Health Page 17:4-5