Lover of Light!

I've been thinking more and more lately how much I love the light - the glowing sunrise, the sunset, how I just feel God's presence in it. Even the stars and moon at night, how they sparkle against the darkness. And how its really what drives my paintings, wanting to somehow spend more time in that love and dramatic light.

This afternoon Gianna fell asleep in the car and I decided I was going to try writing out exactly what it is I feel, thinking it may help me even more in my painting because I think its all so tied in together.

This is what I wrote:

I feel so blessed that most days I am able to view this divine display of beauty. The morning and evening sun feel like a love letter from God. A kiss from heaven.

A fleeting glimpse of something more beautiful than we could ever imagine.

I so feel the presence and love of God in the rising and the setting of the sun. Warm, dazzling light displays just the tiniest fraction of His Glory. The ordinary becomes beautiful. Telephone wires shimmer as strands of gold.

And I am reminded of the the hope we have of heaven, the hope we have in Christ. Though darkness may fall, there is the promise of a new beginning. Of joy, hope, peace. Of light shining away the darkness.

Just laying eyes on it soothes my soul, whispers to my heart, inspires my spirit. As a man is thirsty and filled with water, hungry and filled with food, something inside of me is satisfied and completed in these beautiful sparkling moments.

And I am SO amazed and touched, that as I started writing this(!!), the sun came out after the rain, and it looks like there are diamonds all around, dripping off the roof, decorating the fence, sparkling in the bushes. And above, the edges of a huge cloud are glowing gold!

I pray that through my art God will help me to some degree capture the magic of these moments. Help me express a little of this grand love affair I am so blessed to be a part of, to just carry it with me a little while longer than just the moment.

Like a love letter! To be able to go back and read it again, instead of just trying to remember what was said. Something precious and tangible.

I could never recreate these moments more beautifully than they are in reality, but I can uniquely express the beauty I behold in my heart. I feel a sort of need to do it. And pray I get better and better at it.

We so often take for granted the beauty around us each day. The sun and the sky and the light just blend in with every other thing in our paths and we no more notice the sunset than the traffic light.

I pray that God may use my hands to present His light as beautifully as I experience it in my heart, that it may capture the attention of other eyes and hearts, sparking something within.

And all for the Glory of God, The Creator, The Light of the world. For without Him, none of this would be, for sure my heart wouldn't be in this beautiful place. Love Him!

(And within 1 minute of writing that last sentence, the sun disappeared and Gianna woke up! The 'spell' for the moment broken, but another just around the corner I know : )