Faith – Whakapono
Faith – Whakapono
Acrylic on canvas 1220 x 1220mm
Whenever you see the prefix ‘whaka’ at the beginning of a word in Māori, it turns that word after it, into an action. Pono means to be true, and faith, faith in terms of your beliefs. For me, faith is not just to believe in something that you can’t quite see, but that if your belief is that strong, you have to act and do something—it’s not enough to say, hey, yeah, I believe and then do nothing about it. You gotta have skin in the game (wherever that saying is from).
For me, faith is an ever-elusive thing. I get a ‘eureka’ moment and think I have this and walk forward with confidence and find, hang-on, I really don’t know about this. This movement is depicted in the pattern of the maze. This maze has no beginning and no end point. But there is beauty in the pattern, but sometimes this is not easily seen when you are in the middle of your hōhā moments in your life. Stand back, meditate, pray, take time for yourself and look back.
Journaling is a great way to look back at even the stink parts of your life. My experience has given me a new appreciation for my journey of faith. Journey being the operative word here, not destination. Faith is a forever journey. No beginning, no end. Like this maze.
Accept you. Your colours are uniquely yours. Stop looking at other peoples colours, they belong to them. Don’t compare your colours to others. Take time to stop and look at the spring snow.[1]
Do pai now
Acrylic on canvas 1220 x 1220mm
The word pai means ‘good’ as in kei te pai ahau (I am doing good), when someone asks how you’re going/doing.
This is a follow-up on the Faith-Whakapono canvas. While I would love to arrive at the Train Station of Faith to rest, along on my journey of faith, I have got to ensure I ‘do good’, to everyone. Don’t wait for opportunities. Do it now. Don’t wait for them to be nice to you. Don’t be nice because you want something in return (even at a subconscious level). That sort of thing neutralises your good act. But even if you do good for something in return it is better than not doing good. Work towards doing good without the return. This is something I am still working towards.
Don’t be a ‘door mat’ though, where your good acts are used and abused. But on the other end of this, people have seen my giving heart as a place of weakness, I have even been urged to change how I engage with my staff (in a previous role) because of the pressure from my bosses. But for me to remain tika (integrity), I will not change, because someone else is being an egg. I will not hand crap shovelled down the ranks, to me, to others.
My dad told me years ago that if someone asks to borrow money from you, only say yes if you can afford to never ever see that money again. But don’t tell them that. That way if you don’t ever see it again, you are still sweet with each other, and if you get it back, it’s a bonus. Why am I saying this? Well, not for you to ask me for some money! A wise man once said, “Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.”[2] OK, so this is something I am still working on in my journey, but relationships are the most important thing.
The colours I used in this piece are deliberately borrowed from sunrises and sunsets to represent that even when we are at our lowest, there is still beauty and we still have something to give and we do not know how one small, minuscule act can impact another person.
So, in my journey of growing and developing my faith—do good now.
[1] Spring snow is the term I use to describe the pretty daisies that pop up all over your lawn at springtime. They are beautiful.
[2] https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2008/10/finding-joy-in-the-journey?lang=eng