Wisdom & Folly

(written Tuesday) And this completes the Deconstruction Reconstruction revival. For those who are new to our design blog, JesusBranded did a 4-piece commission for International Justice Mission a couple of years back, but because the funding fell through, those four pieces never quite saw the light of day; however, I've been slowly bringing them back because they were uniquely designed and have very rich messages that I would regret to see just collect dust. "Wisdom & Folly" is the very last design revived of the four, and funnily enough, it was originally meant to be the opening piece of the series. Hurrah for the first being the last. The premise for this one was to open up the bigger idea of reconstructing the broken by showing the very fine line that divided the road traveled in the first place: the fine line separating Wisdom from Folly is that of a solid foundation. I squeezed together Matthew 7:24 + Psalm 1 to just illustrate the point home: "...whoever hears my words and puts them to practice is like a builder who sets a foundation on a rock, but those who ignore my words are foolish builders who settled on sand and they will be crashed upon by the seas- but not so to those who delight in my counsel! They are like trees planted by streams of water- their leaves do not whither, and they yield their fruit in season." ------------------------------- OK I'M ADDING TO THIS POST BECAUSE IT WILL BOTHER ME IF I LEAVE IT AS IT IS. (written Wednesday) While I was originally working on this post Monday night, I really really did not want to do any designing, any more thinking, any more sharing of my walk, any more reading of scripture for inspiration... I can't necessarily call it a burn-out yet, but I'm sure I was throwing a reactionary fit to certain thoughts that have been wrestling with me since I started my journey in design a handful of years ago- it was bound to catch up to me sooner or later; or rather, God was bound to prepare me to deal with it eventually, since the "perfecting of our faith" involves the exorcising of our baggage as we pilgrimage towards freedom, and I can't (and sure as heck don't want to) carry on with these unresolved pressures in my spirit for the sake of the growth of JesusBranded's vision (and my growth as an artist in general). The thoughts, to simplify, are these: What do you do when the direction you're following does not sell? Is it an ominous sign for JesusBranded that only the commercially-marketable visions survive in this world of product and commodity, that faith and sincerity is then all the more susceptible to becoming a packaged experience, neat and tidied up for easy consumption?That is a very LONG and convoluted conversation in itself (something you can email me about if you want to start talking about it), but for the sake of an honest transcript of this boy's (and thesis's) journey, it's worth skimming the iceberg in order to really test and see what holds up and what needs to fall away. The criticism of monetizing one's religion has been a topic JesusBranded has dealt with since the beginning of this project in 2005, and in the end, is one of the debates I was happy to leave behind in shutting down the strictly-t-shirt-store direction we had going for 3 years. As some of you who have stuck with us through our transition know, we even tried just being a blog so that we can forever close the chapter on selling stuff; but in the end we accepted (reluctantly then, gladly now) that shirts are still the most accessible way to connect with you while maintaining the financial sustainability we need to keep this exploration going, and so that's why we do what we do the way we do it. We've grown to love the t-shirt avenue again, and we're happy when you like our shirts and wear 'em (seriously we are STOKED)- but what really makes our spirits doubly soar is when we're able to put ourselves out there in the transparent open and begin to relate with you (you personally, not "you" as a faceless collective) as you pursue those things which are important to you- if by putting our wounds, scabs, victories, tragedies, joys, treasures, beauty, and ugliness on the line helps you somehow, someway in healing, learning, unlearning, moving on, discovering, reminding, building, or whatever, then we know we're on the right track with leaving the footprint that we want to leave. It's no longer about the shirts just making a name for themselves, but rather they're means to an end so that we can share our lives with you, and hopefully, you with us. So all that to say that as a designer, I do get my identity wrongly wrapped about the performance of the works of my hands (as other artists in other media can attest to just as well)- if it sells like hotcakes I feel like God is smiling, but when it flops I feel ashamed to have my inadequacies exposed to Him. It's an anxiety that cannot keep co-existing with a real identity that calls me beloved inspite of performance, that tells me that I have everything that is my Fathers without having real merit to have earned it myself; so I hopefully press on and look forward to the healing from these questions that erode my sonship. Design posts like this original one are bound to happen until then, where I get tired and (almost) give up on honesty, where I lose sight of what JesusBranded really wants to do temporarily and throw tantrums by posting a generic, detached post, then attempt to make up for it by adding a rant explaining myself. Regardless, having you alongside us in this journey is a blessing, and we thank you in advance for your patience as we grow up and grow through our issues. We're learning the art of sincerity and the wisdom to rein it with, and we hope that its what will make a difference during the days when we feel uninspired. Thank you for making this project possible, whether through wearing a shirt you like from us, posting your own journey through blog comments, sending us encouraging emails, or hitting us up on Facebook chat- JesusBranded is as much your stories as it is ours.

2009-06-23T09:39:26Z

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JesusBranded wrestles between wisdom and folly with this Christian T-shirt 59 6 59

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Wisdom & Folly

2009-06-24T16:11:16Z

wisdom-folly 2009