Unspoken Suffering of the “Just”: An Honest Meditation of an Artist

I went for a walk in the cool of the rain and I paid particular attention to the trees on my walk. I’ve always loved the beauty of trees as they make me feel relaxed and to have a clear mind. I especially love the smell of trees and grass during a rainstorm. As I walked today, I paid attention to my favorite trees along the path. I was reminded of the scripture that caught my attention this morning.

“And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭2:9‬ ‭KJV‬‬

As I contemplated the scripture, I was drawn to the fact that God intentionally created trees ”pleasant to the sight”. And these trees were specified apart from the trees that had good fruit. So their specification spoke to me that they had their own value apart from the fruit trees. In biblical writing, trees represent people. And when I considered both together, Holy Spirit highlighted that the trees that were simply pleasant to the sight were of just as much value as the trees that he created with a practical purpose like creating fruit. This spoke deeply to me as an artist.

There is an unspoken suffering that artists and other creators struggle with. We often have people admire our works as something beautiful and wonderful. Many are fascinated by the creative process and wonder how it’s done. Artists, musicians, and creatives of all kinds make beautiful things . And it is pleasing, but not always practical. Even though so many are fascinated by what we do, there is a damaging culture that silently says creatives are not as valuable as those who have practical skills. Everyone wants art, but it’s amazing how many don’t cons