When I was young I often felt insecure. At the time I graduated from high-school, my art teacher encouraged me to pursue the fine arts professionally; however I did not take his advice to heart. In hindsight, I am not sure why I did not rally around his encouraging words. I would have lived a different life. Professionally, I ended up becoming a Jack of all trades. I did not stay too long in one profession because nothing could capture my interest the way art did. Eventually returning to painting and delving into my first art projects after decades of abstinence, it felt like meeting an old long-lost friend.

God gives us talent, but He also gives us endurance and encouragement. We can have all the talent in the world – without endurance and encouragement all our talent goes to waste. Most importantly, we must believe. One of the reasons why I did not thrive professionally was not giving credit to the input I had received from others regarding my gifts and talents. On a much more serious level, it won’t do us any good to live life without believing what God has to say.

The apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans that we need to encourage one another as Christ did. Christ does not give up on people because He cares. There is much to be said about caring. A garden minus a caring gardener is no garden. It’s a wilderness. And a planet without caring people will soon become inhabitable. To prevent the human race from extinction, we need to have the same mindset toward people that Christ displayed when He lived among us.

Jesus is the bread of life. Just as consuming carbs gives us physical energy, believing in Him is life to our soul. He vitalized this world like no other. As a result, believers around the globe praise Him with one voice and glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.