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Ron Brancato Studio Phone: 585-359-4656
Some companies have their seals of quality or their guarantee of fine workmanship to give an assurance to the customer of the value behind the product and a reminder to the company itself of its commitment to providing the best it can. For me, "To the glory of God" is my seal for a commitment to excellence. I have found that by working to please an audience of one, namely God, I will far exceed my abilities than for any other reason imaginable. I admit that it's a bit intimidating to me to try and please the creator of the universe, but with that as my goal, I can do no better. The result then is for His glory, and my customers reap the benefits as well.
My number one aspiration is to be a mirror. As I live to serve God, I have found that the less of me there is, and the more of Him I allow to reflect off of me, the better that I can love, accept, serve and encourage others. I was created in His image and I want others to see and know how good He is. I just happen to have some scratches and tend to fog up every now and then. A mirror requires constant cleaning much like the one in my bathroom.
Yes, God can be glorified by me through designing a logo or doing an illustration. His Word tells me in Proverbs 3:6 "in all your ways acknowledge Him." He gave me my talents and abilities to design and I give the glory to Him. There was a point where I had a big problem with that glory thing. I was doing it all for me. My pride swelled as I sought my own significance. My hope was built on a continual fix of trying to keep that pride inflated. In doing so, my goal began and ended with each apparent victory, and any wrench thrown in the works revealed the worst in me, bringing grief to myself and often to others. If you could graph that way of life, it would look like a heart monitor, up and down, up and down. Looking at it like that, I did not want that to be all there was to life. A bunch of ups and downs until I flat-lined out and it's over! I kept up that pace until I was finally able to see the end of myself, before I really flat-lined out. The end of "me" I define as basically seeing all that I can do to find pleasure and success, only to lack lasting satisfaction in the senseless repetition I lived in. When I was led to that point of seeing the emptiness and realized it was ludicrous with the lack of peace it brought, I knew I needed something more than me. I heard there was a Savior for many years and even thought I had "been there, done that." I mouthed the words but my "self" was somewhere else at the time. When I finally saw the end of that "self" I was trusting in, I had to decide to either keep up the game or do something radical. Sin became the issue. Do I or don't I sin? I heard that the Bible says that all wrongdoing is sin and that it keeps me separated from God. The radical step became to admit that I sin and that I will be totally lost in it without a life line. I had to face the Bible telling me that ALL have sinned and that a sin lifestyle only leads to death. And this isn't physical death it's talking about, but an eternal spiritual death. So, I did something radical. I did what the Bible said was the only way to live and that was to confess Jesus Christ as Lord of my life and believe that He was raised from the dead. It was a real leap, but there were promises attached. I had no promise before with anything else I ever did in life. I latched onto the promise of eternal life and forgiveness of my sins and I vowed to live for Him. I'm a work in progress and it's an incredible journey where I've never known such fulfillment. I still mess up and I still sin, but I have a relationship with God who has freed me from sin's grip and that's the difference. I now can take a lot of pleasure in the things I accomplish without the hollowness because "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." Strange concept, but it's implications are huge. It sure is a good feeling getting accolades for a job well done. I enjoy the "thank you's" and the smiles I get for pleasing my clients. I know my Lord is pleased when I say "thanks" for all He has done for me. I also know that one day I will hear Him say to me, "well done." Then, it will all be worthwhile.
If you are looking for that same peace that I have found, these links may be helpful to you: http://www.billygraham.org/spiritualhelp/steps.asp The church I attend in Henrietta, NY:
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