| The Holiday Season is upon us! I love to see all the lights of the shops and homes. It truly is the time of the Festival of Lights (Hanukah). This seems correct to me for both Christians and Jews because Jesus celebrated the Feast of Dedication (Hanukah). Plus, for Christians, Jesus is the Light of the world, and commemorating that with light during the darkest days of winter is a fitting decoration of religious expression.
As an artist and an observing believer, light is very important in my life. How the light falls in a painting is one of the design elements all good artists focus upon. Rembrandt was a master of light, and in other ways so were Vermeer and Monet. But light needs the dark areas to truly shine -- in a painting and in life.
Yesterday I hung little lights along my patio. My dogs shivered outside with me, and the wild birds watched as I stretched up to insert little cup hooks to hold the light strands. My lights were sold as purple (written clearly on the box). They looked purple until they were lit and turned magenta. Light can change the way we see things.
Illuminating something can change the way we see it.
When a candle is lit in the dark, the area around becomes illuminated. In the shadows beyond we become aware how much more there is to see. That's how awareness grows. The more we see in the Light, the more we realize there is more to see. Sometimes the task of growing our light to see it all can see daunting. It can seem better to stay in denial or ignorance by not thing about what we need to see to learn, to grow, to heal and be more of who we were made to be.
“How long, ye thoughtless, will ye love thoughtlessness? And how long will scorners delight them in scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof; behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.” Proverbs I 22-24 KJV
Making the Words of the Lord known, illuminating our inner visions so that we see them all around, in our every day world, making life a profound and holy every day experience is what my UnGraven Image art works to accomplish. It is one of my ways of shining my light.
This is the season when we give gifts to loved ones and strangers, charity to the poor, cheer to the downtrodden and ill, and an extra share of our attention and love to those we care about the most. Let's make an attempt to give those things that will help make a difference, which will help make someone's load lighter, their world more radiant and will encourage them to become all they were meant to be.
Whatever holiday(s) you celebrate, I pray that it is filled with the Light of Love.
December 2005 |
