I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen them before. Just behind the thorns and briers was a rusty old set of gates. The more I looked at them, the more I loved them.
They were once entrance gates to the house that now stands derelict in what was a substantial garden. If gates could talk what a story they’d tell. But what struck me was not the story of our past that they’d tell but the story of our values and longings. Bear with me it’s not as crazy an idea as you might think. You see, without deliberately thinking about it what we hold dear comes out in what we make and do. Just like a picture painted on the canvas reveals something about the artist who painted it. In a similar way how Dromara looks and what happens in it reveals something about us who live there. It reveals what’s important to us, what’s our priorities and what we long for. I’ll give you a quick example so I don’t lose you here. There are three busy hair salons in Dromara, what do you think that say about us? It definitely says something about what we value and long for!
Over the next few blog posts I want to take a fresh look at our village and see what it says about us. You may not live in Dromara (I’m sorry about that) but I hope this will give you eyes to see your town in a different light. Dromara (and everywhere else) did not spring up out of the natural world. It didn’t grow as a wild flower would. It came into existence, as a garden does, through human activity. It is what it is because people made it that way and what was made whispers to us. I simply want to invite you to slow down long enough to hear what it says.
To be completely upfront about it, my conviction is that our deep down identity, our longings are best explained and fulfilled by Jesus. I realise that’s a huge statement and you may not initial agree with it but I invite you to look around at Hidden Dromara and see if that explanation fits or if you can find a better one.
Let me take you to the rusty gates…
Cross the bridge on the Moybrick Road and half way up the hill on the left hand side you’ll see beautifully made iron gates (There’s a number of other sets as you continue up the hill). When you look behind the hedge you can see the remains of an old dwelling house.
These gates had purpose but they weren’t made simply to be practical they were made to be beautiful. The wonderful twists and turns serve no practical purpose they were made to look good. Consider the extra hours it would have taken to create that design. Consider the skills developed over generations and passed down to others. In each new set of hands, the process would be refined and improved on. Can’t you hear the gate maker telling the man who ordered the gates that making that design would cost more.
Creating beauty was important for the one who paid for these gates and for the one that made these gates. He would have stepped back when they were hung and would have enjoyed what he saw. Notice too how stone was carved into a gate hanging. It probably would have been quicker to just bend a piece of metal but time was taken to carve a rock instead. You can imagine people stopping on their walk into the village and admiring the craftsmanship involved.
nWe are no different from those who lived in the past, we find great joy in creating. And it doesn’t need to be something useful like gates, it could have no purpose at all. If anything our love for creating beauty for no other reason but to enjoy looking at it sets us apart in creation. We are about more than just surviving. We value beauty and love creating it. But why? What use is it if we are just survival machines in a ‘world of tooth and claw’? Is it a blip in the story of our evolution? Why would it be necessary to our survival or our continuation as a species to create beauty on such a practical thing as a gate? It doesn’t add to our progress. Yet we cannot image a world without beauty to admire. Creating and admiring beauty is a universal human value. Can you think of any culture across all of history where beautiful things aren’t part of their story?
Where does this point to? What story does it best fit into?
Our love of creating points to the One in whose image we are made in. The One who himself delighted in his creation. Genesis records how he stepped back to admire his handiwork, saying “Wow it’s good”. Dromara is filled with these little glimpses of us as creators after God the Creator. We take great pride in making beautiful gardens, hair styles and homes. Our fridges become the art gallery displaying great works of creative genius, admired by all.
We cannot help ourselves, everything we do silently screams that we are God’s image bearers. Creators of beauty after the Original Creator of beauty. We might deny it but we can’t hide it, it’s visible all over Dromara.
So beautifully said! What a privilege to reflect our creator in this way.