I understand why King David speaks in the Psalms of the length of our days being as hand breaths. They come and go so quickly, and just keep coming. Time just races on as we age, and life literally is like sand falling through an hour glass. It is finite, it will end, and it is all passing so incredibly fast.

My children, once little and dependent, are all grown now. The youngest is on the brink of adulthood at age 17. I never saw this day coming. But it came, it’s here, and ever so quickly.

I myself on the brink of old age, am a senior citizen. It doesn’t appeal to me as I had hoped it would. For old people are not valued in our society. Their whole life behind them, they become weak and fragile and in need of care, much like little children again. They are easily forgotten, pushed aside, neglected. They have little anyone wants from them anymore. Their beauty gone, their homes sometimes are lost, their children grown and gone, and their health changing and often not what it once was. They are left to die.

The Lord says He will carry us even when we are old. Many sit in nursing homes with no one to visit them. They wait for their change to come, their deliverance from this dark world. They wait for the Saviour, if they know Him. The greatest day of their life is soon to approach, the day they cross the Jordan.

The importance of living for God now, while there is time, comes into view, serving Him now. Solomon says” better to be in the house of mourning than in the house of feasting, for that is the end of every man.” Better to mourn than to feast, because we will all mourn eventually. If we are feasting, we are not thinking about our eternal destiny, we are rather consumed with the pleasures of the moment, eating, drinking, and momentary joy. If we’re mourning, we’re in sorrow, we are hurting, we thirst, and in our need, we make room for God.

Today is the day of salvation. Not tomorrow.  For tomorrow may never come.

In thee O Lord do I put my hope. Jesus paid it all. Our sin debt, the sins of the whole world fell on the Son of God! If our iniquities were to be measured, it would lead to utter despair. Jesus is the rock of hope this world needs.

Our whole world is based on a merit system. The merit of a life brings riches, popularity, fame, and reward, but it does not bring salvation of the soul. Only Jesus Christ, the rock, can give this. All earthly pursuits, however worthy they seem in this life,  lead to emptiness.  Men of high degree are a lie, and men of low degree are vanity. Jesus is precious. Jesus is the rock.

” Let me never be ashamed, deliver me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me, deliver me speedily, be thou my strong rock, for an house of defense to save me.”

If Jesus and his blood shed on the cross as payment for our sins, is all our hope, and He is perfect, we have no real fear. The rock of hope is enough. Our faith may be very flawed, mixed with doubt at times, our works also flawed, our minds flawed. Yet Jesus has no flaws! All we must do is look! Look at Him! Look to Him and rest! Forget yourself!

There was never anything we could do. From the womb we were broken and fallen, but we are offered through faith something far more priceless than ourselves. We have a rock, a rock of hope!

Jesus saves souls, and no one can take that away! He gave each one of us an earthly life and it’s a precious gift. He now offers an eternal life to everyone who will place their faith and hope in His death, burial and resurrection to pay for their sin debt. To those who believe, we will be with Him forever and ever.

” Look unto me all ye the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other”. Look and live unto the saving of your soul. ~Isaiah 6:22

My latest art work is a departure from the sea scapes and nature scenes that have so charecterized my focus. I’ve been following abstract artists of skill and passion and it has awakened in me the curiosity to explore this style as it appeals to me so much.

What I have found out is that it is not as easy as it looks, especially if you are held back by tight lines, realism in presentation, and the opinions of others. It has taken three years and many canvases to let go of the “rules” in my head and simply enjoy the freedom of expression I long for in creativity and art.

I love color and the contrasts of light and dark. I love the creative flow of abstract art and the interesting ways an abstract painting can be perceived and interpreted. I found out it’s harder than it looks to create the beauty I see in some of the abstract artists I follow. But the hardest part is simply to let go and take risks and freely paint what you feel and see with no fear of failure.

If we cannot be free in art, there is no place where we can be free. We must be free in our creative pursuits and not held down by rules. What is art? It is our own interpretation of a subject, an idea, a vision or even a dream. Art is whatever we create, even if it is not liked, appreciated, or well understood.  It is our creation. In this way, we are made in the image of God, our Creator. We have the ability to make something from our own mind and bring it into being.

Many years ago, a wise artist once said to me, ” Paint what your soul feels.” I never forgot this advice. I thought, if I can do this, then my work will be good, genuine, creative. I hope I am beginning to learn the essence of his words. Let’s celebrate art and the uniqueness God gives each one of us to express the beauty that is inside all of us.

Loved with everlasting love, by grace that love to know;

Spirit breathing from above, Thou hast taught me it is so!

Oh, this full and perfect peace! Oh, this transport all divine!

In a love which cannot cease, I am His, and He is mine.

Heaven above is softer blue, Earth around is sweeter green-

Something lives in every hue, Christless eyes have never seen.

Birds with glad-der songs o’er flow, Flowers with deep-er beauties shine,

Since I know as now I know, I am His and He is mine.

Things that once were wild alarms, cannot now disturb my rest,

Closed in everlasting arms, pillowed on the loving breast.

Oh, to lie forever here, Doubt and care and self resign,

While He whispers in my ear- I am His, and He is mine

His forever, only His; Who the Lord and me shall part?

Ah, with what a rest of bliss, Christ can fill the longing heart!

Heaven and Earth may fade and flee, first born light in gloom decline;

But while God and I shall be, I am His, and He is mine.

“And to as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become the sons of God, even to those who believe on his name.”

What does it mean to receive Him? Repentance is a change of mind, a turning towards God. When someone has received Jesus Christ, He comes to live inside them, He is one with their spirit, the person is sealed by the power of the Holy Spirit and forever changed. That means the Holy Spirit is always there, either grieved or blessed by the life of this person, and the person who has received Him knows He’s there. When that person sins, the Holy Spirit convicts, grieves, and leads that individual. This person hears the voice of God and listens.

This person may fall into great sin and debauchery, but the Spirit of God never leaves him. This person may be chastised or fear the Lord’s chastisement, but this person knows the Lord and knows if he’s living in sin, he’s living wrong. He will be chastened of the Lord. When he is, it is a painful, effective chastening.

It’s not that salvation isn’t easy, it is. To become such a one requires simple belief and rest on the Son of God and His work on the cross on our behalf. But the person must know that Jesus is God, their only hope, their Judge, and the Lord. The person must receive Him in truth as all these things. A fear of God results. The eyes are opened, and the person realizes they must answer to this higher authority. They love this higher God, they hope in Him. Despite their failures, despite their sin, their hope is in Him. He becomes real to them, a real person with a real existence, once He is received into their life.

Once He is received in truth as God and their Saviour and only hope, He never leaves, and they never lose their relationship with Him or the eternal life He gives them through His work on the cross.

“Remember the word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.”

Are you born again unto this blessed hope?

“Eat not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats: for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Eat and drink, saith he to thee, but his heart is not with thee.” This is not a person of integrity in one’s life. This is not a person who cares about you. This is a person who would have you do something, not in your best interests because they have an evil eye. ” The morsel which thou hast eaten thou shalt vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.

There are so many seducers out there. ” Let not thine heart envy sinners.” The Bible seems to warn that they will come and tempt you, and try to get you to sin with them, to partake of their dainty meats. “Be in fear of the Lord all the day long”. For surely there is an end, and thine expectation shall not be cut off.” The end of life is coming. What we do matters, every decision is important, and there are eternal consequences to your life. Our testimony matters and has far reaching influence. Even the very words of our tongue matter.

I’ve been enticed by sinners, by worldly women who seem to “have it all”. People who tell me, “get a life, get a job, please myself, dump my homemaker role and marriage,”be somebody”! I have an RN, use it! Please myself! Do what I want, dump all authority, and old landmarks. Remove it all, seek self. Get what you can, while you can! But the Bible says ” there is an end” and my expectation shall not be cut off. It also states, “the expectation of the wicked shall perish”. The wicked and their evil are everywhere. I shall set no evil thing before my eyes, the Bible commands. Surely we are in the very last days.

A woman, a wise one, is commanded to build her house. To build a house is to strengthen and support it. It is to do everything you can to preserve, grow, and establish it as well as protect and nourish your home, trusting that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. Have faith! Obey God, when the road turns and it does not make sense, knowing your faith has great recompense of reward.

“Set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Wow! I am dead and my real life is hid with Christ in God! My real life that goes on forever and has no end, is hidden; people cannot see it, the Bible says. I can’t see it! It is with Jesus Christ, the person, Jesus Christ in God! My real life is in God, Jesus. Jesus is in heaven, but He lives in me. So, I am there, and He is here. The Bible says, as believers, we are inextricably connected to Him, and our earthly flesh is dead! Gone! It awaits to fall off, and then we are free. We go to be with our Saviour!

My day will come, and my faith has great recompense of reward! This is why Jesus says our lives consisteth not of the abundance of the things which we posseseth. A house, clothes, cars, things, jobs, titles, popularity, or accomplishments. All are passing away. So He says ” love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, for if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but of the world. And the world passeth away and the lust thereof. But he that does the will of God abideth forever. We who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will never see eternal death, but fall asleep, as God removes us from this flesh.

It’s a waste of time to aquire stuff in this life. Looking all the time for bigger and better. We cannot keep any of it. It’s not our’s to keep. Without Christ, one will die very poor, so very poor! We all have to face death someday, but if we have Christ, we have the blessed hope. We are already dead in this flesh and our life, our real life, the only everlasting life there is, is hid with Christ in God! Colossians 3:3

A quiet life. The Bible says ” make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to do your own business, to work with your own hands, in 1st Thessolonians 4. To live peaceably with all men even so much as it is up to you. To be still, and to know that He is God. This is a worthy goal and the best sort of existence, but it’s becoming increasingly more difficult with the vast amount of knowledge available to us, to live a quiet life, a peaceful life.

To be quiet, to have a meek and quiet spirit is of great price in the eyes of God. What does it mean to be quiet? The King James Biblical dictionary defines quiet to be still, at rest, immovable, at peace, undisturbed and untroubled, and void of offense towards others. This requires discipline in this age of electronic media and communication, but also a decision must be made to not ” react” to all the chaos and craziness that our world can throw at us. In the day in which we live one is quite challenged to mind their own business. Social media, news media, has inundated us with so much information that if we take it all in and let it weigh us down, our quiet peace will soon evaporate. The little instrument we all carry, the information super highway at our fingertips known as an iphone threatens any quietness from ever settling in for very long. It takes a considerable amount of effort to simply put it away and listen to the sound of the clock ticking, or the birds outside, or the stillness of our own surroundings. 

The Lord intended to give us life and that more abundantly.  A quiet habitation where all our paths are peace. This can happen but we must shut our eyes and ears to all electronic devices and the noise of the world’s voice clammoring to get into our minds, and learn to feast on silence, the Creator, and the simplicity of nature as well as our own business that God has given us to do.

It doesn’t sound too bad does it? A quiet life, once you get use to it, you may never return to all the ruckus outside your quiet place ever again.

“As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come” Proverbs 26:1

Wanderings. Our tendency to move in an aimless direction without purpose or meaning but simply being pulled by the fleshly impulses of our migrant lusts. This is a dangerous place to be. Wanderings can lead us away from the nest, away from that safe place where God has placed us, away from truth, and away from what is right. Being where you should not be, leaving, flying, from your nest, yearning for what is not yours, the whole idea of wandering is moving into a place where you should not be, being led by a force that is not good, and not of God. The curse that ensues has a cause. Wanderings have the notion of being driven by discontent, and ingratitude. “A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, a rod for the fool’s back.” God has chastisement in the form of curses for those who would be fools.

I’ve often pondered the winding path life seems to unfold. Why do things happen as they do? Why is it so hard to see, and have foresight into our future wanderings and avoid them if possible to preserve what might have been, what was intended to be. I don’t have the answers. This verse about wanderings causes one to pause in light of such curses that inevitably come, and to consider our steps, to sincerely evaluate our motives.

The Bible would seem to be sending a stern warning to the wandering soul, to notice our direction and not move frivilously in a world where curses abound and surely causeless shall not come. Our actions have consequences, and we do reap what we sow, more than we sow, later than we sow. The most sobering prospect of all, is perhaps the reality that time is short, life passes quickly and our wanderings may lead us to an end, in which there is no time left, to right the ship. King Saul suffered such an end, and we can learn from his life what a curse can bring. Though he was the Lord’s anointed, his life did not end well. Could he not forsee where his wanderings would lead?

Prone to wander, OH I feel it! Will my soul so quickly depart from thee? Only God can anchor our wandering souls. Only God can rescue us from our meaningless drifting and the inevitable curses which will result. God sees all. We must trust Him, when life doesn’t make sense, and we are tempted to ” fix” it, Wait on the Lord! “My defense is God, which saveth the upright in heart.”

Sometimes the hardest thing to do, is wait. Wait on the Lord. You shall yet praise Him. “Trust in the Lord, and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” Delight thyself in the Lord, and He will give thee the desires of thy heart.”

Let us learn contentment, acceptance, gratefulness and peace. God will surely bless those who wait upon Him.

This painting was inspired by a beautiful Sunday afternoon walk through Wolf State Park, a gorgeous hiking trail right on the ocean. A thickly forested yet beautifully maintained park, one has no idea as you begin the trails down through the hills that eventually it opens up to this serene cove which leads out to the wide expanse of the sea. Islands dot the landscape both near and far , as white sails from distant boats move across the horizon. We sat there on the rocks, smelling the salt water breeze while listening to the water gently lap upon the shore, as it brought back memories of my childhood, growing up in Rhode Island, and being taught to love the sea.

The first time I’d ever been to Acadia National Park, we discovered this beautiful pond, these gorgeous hills to the west, and a trail that winds around the water offering different perspectives of this wonder of the sea. The trees, mostly conifers and birch shroud the water with pristine foliage and shade. The rocky cliffs above are an invitation to any avid hiker to climb or scramble their heights, and my boys wasted no time accepting the challenge, while I was content to simply walk around this beautiful body of water. It’s hard to imagine that places like this still exist, that the virgin beauty of such a place has not been corrupted, but preserved, and is seemingly untouched by all that goes on under the sun. Yet there it is, the quiet peace of nature is keenly felt in these parts of the world.

The ocean to me is a place to escape, a place to be reminded that there is a God, someone greater than all, that is in control of all that happens, of all that will happen. In this racing and sometimes seemingly meaningles world of a life that moves so very fast, if you want to be brought back to the one who holds it all in His hands, go to the sea. Look at the vast expanse of the ocean, and you will witness the creative power of God, and the glory of His presence. He is still there. He is real.

” Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified.” Psalm 40:16