Midnight from the Porch Swing

It had been a particularly hectic few months with big projects, sparking deadlines and huge responsibilities to get everything ‘right,’ in the swirl of life’s chaos… I had a moment late one night to sit down, deplete in exhaustion, on our porch swing and look out into the night…

The scene before me was serenely beautiful and still and I felt enveloped with the loveliness of peace that comes not from without, but from God within, melding with the stillness of the moonlight. I held that scene and it’s ambience in my mind, waiting until the chaos of the present passed and I could escape down into my studio to transfer that mental treasure to my canvas.

I feel an intimacy with God as he molds my life to Him, yet, it is always such a surprise when my will and God’s will for me, collide! As was this experience, the painting in my head was lovely, soft and gently beautiful, but what God brought forth through His brush held in my hands, was entirely different… I was actually shocked! I often am when my presumptions clash with my Lord’s will and His speaking into my spirit. When I think we’re going in one direction, He takes me in exactly the opposite and the result is always deeper. Such was the journey with this painting. In contrast to my perspective of soft and gentle, He presented me with a mirror of definite, bold surety; and a commission forward…