{"id":37781,"date":"2020-12-11T12:19:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-11T12:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/power-of-childs-art\/"},"modified":"2020-12-11T12:19:00","modified_gmt":"2020-12-11T12:19:00","slug":"power-of-childs-art","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/power-of-childs-art\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of a Child\u2019s Art"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sally-Lloyd Jones, the author of the popular <em>Jesus Storybook Bible for Children<\/em>, tells the following story about visiting the <em>Museum of Modern Art<\/em> in New York City:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>A few years ago, I overheard someone commenting on a piece of [modern] non-representational art. I think it was a Rothko [a 20th century American abstract painter]. &quot;My child could to that!&quot; someone said. I take that as a compliment.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&ldquo;My child could do that.&rdquo; But really, isn&#39;t that the point? Artists like Rothko were specifically drawn to children&#39;s art. Picasso once said, &ldquo;It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>The power of a child&#39;s art is defined by what they can&#39;t do&#8211;by their lack. They know they can&#39;t do it. And as a result, their art is not about showing off skill or expertise. It&#39;s coming from somewhere else. It&#39;s all heart &#8230; A child is physically not able to master [pencil or paints]. They struggle to depict things&#8211;and every line has heart &#8230; The power of the art of a child comes not from their ability or their strength. It comes from their weakness, their not being able, their vulnerability.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[446],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3360,3437,3438,3524,3567,3569,3760,3920,4052,4133,4180,4675,4993,5085,5091,5256,5265],"tax_ctp_topics":[377,384],"class_list":["post-37781","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-ability","tax_ctp_tags-art","tax_ctp_tags-artistic","tax_ctp_tags-brokenness","tax_ctp_tags-childlike-faith","tax_ctp_tags-children","tax_ctp_tags-dependence","tax_ctp_tags-experience","tax_ctp_tags-giftedness","tax_ctp_tags-heart","tax_ctp_tags-human-limitations","tax_ctp_tags-powerlessness","tax_ctp_tags-skill","tax_ctp_tags-strength","tax_ctp_tags-struggles","tax_ctp_tags-vulnerability","tax_ctp_tags-weakness"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Power of a Child\u2019s Art - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/power-of-childs-art\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Power of a Child\u2019s Art - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sally-Lloyd Jones, the author of the popular Jesus Storybook Bible for Children, tells the following story about visiting the Museum of Modern Art in New York City: A few years ago, I overheard someone commenting on a piece of [modern] non-representational art. 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