Part Three by Susan L.

  As work continues on the third illuminated text, I have a greater appreciation for the monks who started this art form. They didn't have bright fluorescent lights to see by or central heating to keep them warm.  Sitting for hours doing minute and detailed work is as exhausting as tossing hay. Hands cramp, eyes blur, back and nether regions ache. I'm left as out of breath if I'd been running a marathon because even breathing can make a brush wander. It isn't only the physical toll but also the mental one. Being in the zone of deep concentration turns the brains to mush after a while.
  With the exception of the letters and the black outline, all colours have been applied by brush. I have no idea how many hours the monks would work each day seeing as their day was broken up by calls to prayer. Four hours at a stretch is about the maximum I can handle.
  It is a labour of love though. And seeing as my view on suffering has been altered, the aches and gasps have become a sacrifice. It isn't just a physical one but also a sacrifice of time. Each page has taken upwards of forty hours to complete from when I first put pencil to graph paper until the last touch ups are done. A monk devoted his entire life to producing just one Bible. Looking at their beautiful work I am sure forty hours is only a fraction of the time it took to complete a single manuscript.
  I also want to be sure to give God the glory for the images surrounding the text. It's through His inspiration and guidance they took shape.
  As each page was roughed out with graph paper and pencil, I wondered what the monks used to lay out their designs or did they trust in the Lord to guide their quills.
  I also mused on how they learned their skills. Did young scribes practice on the scraps of carefully prepared animal hides left over from cutting the pages out? Maybe that's where designs were laid out as well before being meticulously copied onto the final piece.
  Lord, thank You that I have paper, pencils and erasers. Thank You for those long ago monks who have inspired this latest artistic venture. To You be the glory!
  "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Eph 2:8-9