I’ve said it before: I’m glad that most of the authors I illustrate for are Christian authors. Because a creative’s mindset and core beliefs will shine through his art, even if he’s not blatantly expressing them. Important basic beliefs, like: God has a plan for each of us.
In Psalms and Proverbs there are passages where we’re told that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. That He knew us even as we were being formed in our mother’s womb. That He has a plan for our life and a path laid out for us to follow. That He knows the end of our days even before they’ve begun.
Of course, we don’t have all that information at the beginning of our journey. How could it even be communicated to us when we are born as helpless infants?
But even as a helpless infant, all of the information about our identity, our purpose and our role in the world at large is already present. Our personality, talents and abilities are present, too, but it’s going to take quite a while for all of that to emerge … we can’t even feed ourselves yet!
We’re going to be totally dependent on parents and others for quite a number of years while we learn the simplest of basics: walking, talking, dressing and feeding ourselves.
Eventually we become more self-aware and learn how to communicate our wants and needs. Being able to communicate begins the process of enlarging our world and exposing ourselves to new experiences. Hopefully our parents or caretakers are beginning to read to us, and not simply relying on technology to keep their little ones quiet and out of the way.
Technology isn’t evil, it’s just a tool. A valuable tool admittedly, but my layperson brain is convinced that what kids need most are thinking and communication skills that are best learned by eye-hand-brain coordination through reading and writing, and face to face interaction with other humans beings. And the earlier that starts, the better!
As a child grows and his world expands, he’s going to be exposed to circumstances and ideas that will pique his interest and begin to awaken his gifts, talents and interests. This is the time when he begins to ponder, consider and think about the world around him. He’ll begin forming his own opinions and beliefs about the world he encounters. Hopefully his caregivers are there to lead and guide through all this. Children need reliable, experienced guidance to show them the way, and they need to begin learning how to think and process the information they take in.
As he grows, all that thinking and processing and turning to reliable mentors is how he’ll best be able to discover the plan for his life and the path he should take. Following that path and developing his own personal gifts and talents is going to result in a fulfilled life that served the world around him in important ways, whether big or small.
Because God’s plans for us individually fit into His larger plan, which means He’s got plans to use us to help someone else along the way.
And helping others is the ultimate goal, whether we’re brain surgeons or truck drivers or simply a mom at home, reading a book to her toddler.