A couple weekends ago I hung out at Balboa Park with my dad and little sister. In case you didn’t know, it’s a great area to visit if you’re wanting to feel more “cultured.” It’s got everything you could possibly want: theaters, gardens, fountains, architecture, people playing instruments that you’ve never seen or heard of before, kids performing magic tricks for money, a guy selling balloon animals, tourists, strange sculptures that fall under the all-encompassing category of “modern art” and, of course, museums. Lots of museums.

Since we hadn’t planned on spending any money, we visited a free museum. Being a free museum, it had a relatively small collection of art and the guards were on the old and tired side (not at all intimidating like the ones you might run into at a fancy museum). Still, even if it wasn’t the most impressive exhibit in the park, it had a few pieces worth looking at. A good portion of the museum had the kind of religious artwork that looked as if it might have come from the dark ages and probably should have stayed there. Most of that stuff with its ornate decoration, rich garments, inexplicably white people, and golden halos seems like such an inaccurate representation of what things must have actually been like in Jesus’ day that I can’t really relate to it. On the other hand, I enjoyed some of the more realistic portrayals of people, be it a portrait, a depiction of some well-known tale, or simply a scene from what everyday life looked like at that time. I especially liked one with a view of some ships at a harbor with a bunch of people on the dock going about their daily business.

Looking at those paintings got me thinking about the quote, “imitation is the greatest form of flattery.” Even some of our finest art is only a rendition, a copy of the original creation. And it made me pause in wonder to think that God might view us as His masterpieces. Art isn’t a thing of perfection, and I don’t think it needs to be, that’s not the purpose. And certainly we are not perfect. But I think, in a way, as God’s creation we are, or perhaps were, or rather one day will be. At least, everything was perfect at the beginning. But that’s the astounding part; God let his own creation become a living thing, something that could be separate from Him, something that could form itself in a way, even become imperfectly flawed. Yet, at the same time, He is still working in it, shaping and molding as He sees fit. It’s all a lot to take in, but it really is an incredible thing to think of ourselves as God’s masterpieces, maybe even His most prized collection, one that He deemed worth saving for eternity. When we look back, if indeed we shall one day be able to look back on it all, I’m sure we will be in awe at the skillful work of the Master and the special care He put into every little detail until He achieved the final result.

Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope it’s a blast. As they say on The Simpsons:

“Celebrate the indipendence of your nation by blowing up a small part of it.”

But really, do be safe an enjoy a grand old time of joyous fellowship, eatery, and all around appreciation for this wonderful country.

For starters, I bring up the fact that I am a huge proponent of moderation. Time and time again and in all aspects of life I see the truth and necessity of balance and moderation; finding the happy medium between two (or more) extremes. It is often an essential part of just surviving the everyday toils of that astounding experience called life. However, moderation, as splendid as it is, cannot become our be-all-end-all. A person who is perfectly moderate in every single thing is not only likely to be a very boring individual, but is also, for better or worse, nonexistent. The very characteristics that make us human often cause us to tend toward certain extremes. No one is so moderate that nothing about them favors any one thing over any other thing. Such a person would be completely indistinguishable except in their indistinguishablility, but I digress on that matter. Not only is complete moderation nigh unattainable, but it is also not all that desirable. Can we really say that all extremes are bad and should therefore be avoided? Is it wrong to be extremely kind, humble, honest, loyal, etc? Indeed, there are many cases where it is preferable to be extreme. We must also consider by what basis we determine something to be moderate or “balanced.” There isn’t always a clear standard to determine whether or not something is perfectly moderate. So moderation can, in many ways, become mere opinion and opinions are not usually the best things to build your entire framework of living upon, they tend to shift and change, thus being, on the whole, not entirely stable life-framework building material.

When I think about the person of Jesus Christ, the word moderate does not immediately come to mind, in fact it doesn’t even enter the picture. He was, undoubtedly a man of extremes. The things He said and the ways He lived were not what I would call mediocre, mild, halfway, careful, tame, or low-key. Raising the dead, walking on water, accusing the religious authority to their face, forcibly driving out moneychangers from the temple, praying so hard blood came out of his skin; these things are a bit on what I would call the extreme side. That’s not to say He wasn’t a man of peace, patience, and prayer, after all He was sleeping in the middle of a life-threatening storm and He put up with a lot of foolishness from His disciples, but even in those things His methods were far different from the norm. Of course, Jesus had a specific role that no one else would or could fulfill, but if His life was characterized by such a large number of extremes, ought not our own lives follow a similar pattern. After all, it’s hard to imagine righteous living being anything but extreme, though perhaps not in the ways we might first expect.

All that to say moderation is good, but only when taken in moderation. (egads! that is a brain-bender, try not to think about it too hard)

“Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice”

Thomas Paine