Greg Olsen began painting when he entered an art show in the eighth-grade. “I did the painting in oils of a Saguaro Cactus the night before the show. The paint hadn’t dried so I put up a sign that read, ‘wet paint.’ For eighth-graders that’s an invitation to touch, so by the end of the show it looked more like an abstract painting.”
Olsen now owns an art studio and his current artworks can be found online at GregOlsen.com, minus the cactus.
“I was shocked when I heard myself telling the caller, ‘I’ll see what I can do,’” said Greg Olsen.
Olsen said that because of a mix-up in the caller’s art order, the man was asking for a painting of Christ with two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and they needed it in three days.
Although it was the middle of the afternoon, miraculously Olsen said he was able to find three guys with beards who had some free time. Using bathrobes, bed sheets and duct tape they proceeded to create costumes and then headed to a dirt road in the neighborhood.
As the makeshift Jesus and two disciples walked down the road, Olsen circled them taking pictures to use as he created the needed painting. He worked nonstop to complete the painting and was able to meet the commitment.
As he tells it, “The interesting thing for me happened a few days later. It was Sunday and I was at Church. I met a lady from my neighborhood in the hallway between meetings. She ran up to me, grabbed me by the arm and said, ‘Greg, I’ve got to talk to you. I want to share an experience that I had this week.’ She was a little emotional and I could tell it was something important and so we found a quiet spot to talk.
“I have to tell you what happened earlier this week,” She said, “I was home alone, standing at my kitchen sink, doing the dishes. I looked out of my kitchen window and suddenly, there HE was. I thought it was the second coming. Jesus and a couple of his disciples; it was so real. He was right there!” She was enraptured in the amazing experience she was recalling, and then, that rapturous expression evaporated and was replaced with kind of a scowl. She continued, ‘It was so real, and then I saw YOU! With your stupid camera, taking pictures of the Second Coming of all things!”
“I didn’t know what to say, so I told her that it must have been kind of amazing to her for a few seconds,” Olsen explained.
Then he continued his story.
How would that be, to see Christ?
As Christians, we believe in Jesus. We believe in the Savior and yet, how amazing would it be if we could actually look out of our window and see him?
Would He be real to us?
Would that change our feelings about Him?
We probably aren’t going to look out of our window and see Jesus. But I think most of us are on some kind of a quest searching for the Savior. Where can we look to find the Savior and a piece of Heaven here on Earth?
I think many of us seek Him and want Him to be part of our lives. I’ve wondered about Jesus and how he grew through boyhood and how he learned about his divine mission on this Earth. That must have been an interesting process.
As we read scriptures in the Bible, we learn that it wasn’t something that happened instantly for Christ. He grew and learned line-upon-line. He grew in wisdom, knowledge and understanding. I think that’s something that we do also. It’s sort of a parallel journey that we’re on.
Finally, at some point, I think Christ fully understood what His mission was; who He was and why He was here. Sometimes I wonder if part of His mission isn’t to help us, not only form a connection with Him, but to discover who He is in our lives and to also learn something about ourselves. What our mission is. Why we are here. What we have in common. What this Earth life is about for each of us.
Each of us is on a journey to find God and ourselves. I think those things happen, or can happen, simultaneously. That on this journey of life, as we learn more about God and our relationship to Him, we learn more about ourselves.
Olsen shared insights to learning more about Jesus and ourselves, through the paintings in his studio.
In the painting titled “Forgiven,” a woman in a red robe kneels at the Savior’s feet. “This is a painting where the red robe the woman is wearing represents the burdens she is carrying,” Olsen explained. “It might be sin; perhaps depression, discouragement, sorrows, or trials in her life. When we look at those things, they might seem so heavy, or huge. The Apostle Paul teaches us, ‘But now I see through a glass darkly; then face-to-face. Now I know in part. Now, we see things, but we don’t see the bigger picture. We see our burdens out of proportion. We don’t really know what we’re made of. We are our own greatest mystery. We don’t really know of the strength and power we have inside of us. ‘But some day – then shall I know – even as also I am known…’ I ask you to give pause to those thoughts,” Olsen admonished.
If we could know ourselves as we are known in Heaven. If we could know who we truly are, how powerful would that be for each of us. Sometimes we think we have to create a big checklist to become who we want to be. Perhaps, it’s not that way at all. Perhaps we are already that person, and just need to shed the outer clothing that covers us up, to reveal what and who we are inside.
Much of the joy and peace that Christ offers us is helping us discover our true self.
“In another piece of artwork, I was trying to portray the love that Jesus has for each of us. ‘In His Light,’ it shows Jesus with a young child. In the painting, the child is the son of the man who is portraying Christ. ‘The father and his son,'” Olsen explained.
Olsen went on to say, “Our relationship with God, our Heavenly Father; with our elder brother, Jesus Christ, Heavenly parentage, these are family relationships we’re talking about. That’s about as close and endearing as we can get. That very idea ought to give us confidence and courage and a wonderful respect for who we are,” he said. “That, is what we are made of. That is in our DNA and we should have confidence in approaching our Heavenly Father, by the very fact that we are family; it gives us an ‘in’ so to speak, that they are concerned for us, love us, and want to help us.”
Further, Olsen explained that those who are parents or who have parents, know of the love connection that is there.
In Romans 8:17, we read, “If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ… that we may also be glorified together.”
“That’s a pretty amazing thing to be joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. That’s a wonderful inheritance we have,” Olsen concluded.
Apostle Luke teaches us that the kingdom of God is within us.
When we came to Earth, we brought a piece of Heaven with us. We have a place we can go, any time we like, inside of us to find a refuge. When we shut our eyes, we close out the distractions around us. We create a piece of Heaven right inside of us. Sometimes we may only have five seconds in the middle of the day, to breathe. Do that, and remember this piece of Heaven inside us, that it is there.
Sometimes to reach that piece of Heaven within us, we have to remove all distractions in our mind.
He is inviting us. “Come follow me.” Come to that sacred space where he has invited us to be. It is a place that is divine.
Courtesy photo
