An Unexpected Message

The Lord said to Moses, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I the Lord? Now then go, and I , even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say?” Exodus 4:11,12

By Cathleen.

Who would have thought that a trip to downtown with our family on the Dart train running around Dallas would have such a profound effect on me? At first glance, it was just meant to be a fun day. E. had never been downtown, ridden a train or trolley, or gone up to Reunion Tower. We ended our trip down town at the Dallas Museum of Art.

When we arrived the gallery told us that there was an event for families on the 4th floor where we could sketch some of the art. Meredith, Marian, and Joshua grabbed the sketch pads and began drawing. E., on the other hand, took a sketch pad and sat down with a distant look on his face. He told us he didn’t know how to draw. We told him that none of us “really” knew how to draw, and we were just playing around. E. remained paralyzed, staring into the distance. We tried to encourage him, but that just silenced him more.

Nothing we tried seemed to work. I told him I was done drawing, and asked him if he wanted to go walk around and look at art while the other kids finished. He stared at his blank white page and started to cry. He had sat there for 30 minutes and had drawn nothing. I didn’t know what was wrong, and he didn’t know how to tell me. We put up our sketch pads. A security guard saw us and stopped E. She grabbed him by the shoulders and told him she had been watching him. She told him she could tell he was sad because he didn’t think he could draw.

I had not noticed her before. She told E. that she “didn’t like to see anyone leave her museum sad”, and she was going to show him some paintings that would be much easier to draw. She then led us back to the sketch pads and handed a new one to E. ,and then led us to a new. “easier” area. He followed along compliantly, but still very tearful.

I had no idea how to comfort him. My only thought was to leave and maybe that would distract him. This lady wanted to keep him here and keep trying to help him. She told us to sit down in front of this simple stick drawing of a tree. She gave E. a pep talk and told him she would be back to check on him. She came back three different times, each time offering new suggestions. He still was crying looking at a blank page. I wondered how I was going to get out of here without her seeing us. What she was trying to do was nice, but now working in my opinion. He was still crying and still totally immobilized. I was totally at a loss.

E. would not talk to me as much as I tried. I told him we could try again another day, and told him we should go walk around and look at other things. We successfully managed to put the sketch pad up with out the security guard seeing us, and headed for the stairs only to get “caught again”! She said she wasn’t giving up yet, and she wanted to introduce E. to the teacher of the sketch class who was helping the people draw. The security guard would not leave us alone.

The teacher was helping someone else, but she was perceptive enough to tell E. was extremely sad. She had him come sit by her while she instructed the other person. It was at this moment that I realized something. I had no idea how to reach E. I tried talking, humor, and comfort and nothing worked.

I had not tried to pray.

I asked God to show me how to help E When she was done, she immediately turned her attention to E.’s eye level . She led us to a painting and pointed out to E. what the tree looked like in the painting. It was rather abstract and looked very simple. She then took us to another painting that also had a tree that was painted very realistically. She told us how artists see things in different ways.. She then took us to a very abstract drawing that at first glance you couldn’t tell what the drawing was. She, however, was able to walk E. through an interpretation, and all of a sudden he was engaging with her. He was engaging with someone for the first time in an hour. She told him how artists see things differently, and that there is no right or wrong yet there is still beauty in it all. The beauty comes from how the artist sees things and that there is an artist in all of us.

E. left the museum smiling and laughing. He told us he wanted to come back.

This day was as much a lesson for me as it was for E. God knew how to handle E.’s heart. He knew to keep pursuing him towards success (the security guard and the teacher) and He wasn’t about to give up. I was ready to give up way earlier.. God in His infinite wisdom sees our situations, and gives us what we need even when we don’t know how to ask for it.

I am reminded of Moses and how he didn’t’ know what to say or what to do. God told him he didn’t need to know and that He would give him the words and show him what to do. This is not the first time I won’t know what to do to help E. God shows up in such mysterious ways but what I need to trust He will always show up.