Priceless Work of Art

North American society has become an air brushed society. Our idea of beauty is something based on what we see in magazines and what we are told looks good. If you ask most women what they would like to change about themselves, the first response is usually "I would lose x pounds." We are taught to see ourselves as less than perfect, less than right because we are human and not airbrushed in magazines.

When I went to the AGO last week, I saw many beautiful, priceless works of art. The detail in all of them blew my mind. As a musician, I understand the work that goes into creating something like that. Every brush stroke counts and every colour is carefully chosen. The reason why these paintings still exist is that they were held to be perfection by the standards set by so many people and more than a few that weren't. Some of the exhibits are more than a little interesting and confusing. They are still beautiful, regardless of how little I understand them.

One of my favourite songs is Fingerprints of God by Steven Curtis Chapman. There is a line in that says "You're a living, breathing priceless work of art." I think that's something that needs to be remembered on more of a regular basis. The care that is taken with the works of art we have preserved for many years, sometimes centuries, in incredible. When I think of how much care we treat ourselves with, we should try and use some of the care we use for paintings. We abuse our bodies so badly, with what we put into them, how long we go in between sleeping and how much we try and force our bodies to lose more weight. We care about those around us, but we cease to really care for ourselves.

We are priceless works of art, created to be exactly as we are. We need to learn to love the art that we are. We have all the perfectly placed brush strokes, the carefully selected colours. We are perfect as ourselves. And we can't put a price tag on that.