The Angel In The Marble
Michelangelo, one of the greatest sculptors of all time had the following to say about the creative process of sculpture: "Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it. I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." We all start out like blocks of marble, but if we have the patience and the will and the determination, we can work with our Savior to carve and carve until we have set the angel free. This process isn't always straightforward. Michelangelo's David is one of the most famous statues in the world. The artist Agostino began work on the block of marble that would eventually become David fourteen years before Michelangelo was even born. He had only carved a very rough outline before he had to move on and the unfinished block languished for forty years. Other artists who were jealous that Michelangelo got the commission tried to destroy it. But despite all of the neglect and opposition and obstacles, Michelangelo still saw the angel in that block of marble. And now thanks to his determination to set that angel free from its block of marble, billions of people over hundreds of years have gotten the chance to see that angel too. We will face setbacks. We will give up for years, even decades at a time. We will believe the lie that all we will ever be is an unremarkable block of marble. But I know that there is an angel inside each of us yearning to be set free. And how do we set it free? We carve. We carve out all of our fears and insecurities. We carve out all of our anger and our lust and our pettiness. We carve out the lies and the half truths. We carve out all of the unforgivable betrayals that we have committed and that have been committed against us. We carve out the pride and the perfectionism. It will not be easy. It will be more than we can bear on our own. But we don't have to do it alone. When we can no longer pick up the chisel, our Savior will help us to cut away another pain, another weakness, another imperfection, until the angel in the marble is set free.
