Imago Dei
“Who Shall Climb” by Cris Gaudi Thompson
Imago Dei
By Connor McBride
My spiritual life and the art I make are woven together like a warm woollen blanket. It keeps me secure from the cold privation beyond. In fact, I believe that song-writing led the vanguard of my battle back to God. Let me explain.
I stood at the crossroads of life after graduating college. Originally intending to use my first job as a launching point for higher education, this future began to dissolve in the tempest stirring inside me. Instead, I decided to dredge the depths of my soul through a process of reading and reflecting. A daunting dialectical dance this was. Perhaps the greatest thing I did during this time, however, was pick up the guitar. Writing songs became a pathway of discovery for me. I could no longer bear the weight of my contemplation. Now, what I’d learned could finally incarnate.
In hindsight, I see God’s hands in my song lyrics, like street signs in a storm; just legible enough to guide me to His light. With my return home to Christ, the songs I currently write deepen my understanding of His truth.
I used to be reluctant to express my creativity. I desperately wanted to fit the mold of the practical man. Now I see it is a gift, and I am grateful that God nudged me down this path. To be an artist is truly to be Imago Dei: to create, to understand, and above all, to love.
The Lord has laid a difficult cross on my shoulders this Lenten season. It is here that my experience as an artist lends its hand, for I know that God intends to transform even the greatest suffering into something more beautiful than I could have known before.
To which, I can pose the following questions to you, dear reader. What is it that makes you suffer? Will you let God use this to create something new in you? What will you, in turn, create from this?
Connor McBride is a singer-songwriter based in Philadelphia under the alias The Vitruvian Club. Follow The Vitruvian Club on Instagram, and check out The Selfless Blood out on all streaming platforms.
Cris Gaudi Thompson is a retired geologist, mixed media artist, and aspiring poet who lives near Fort Worth, Texas.