By the Brook Cherith; 2020; 20" x 28"; mixed media: watercolor, ink, pastel, chalk, acrylic. I tear through the forest, branches ripping at my skin. The trees thin and my feet bog in mud. I fight to lift them, heavily weighted, until bursts of vegetation give way to drifts of sand. Then stumbling, I sink…Read more By the Brook Cherith
hope
Across the World
Across the world, we assume we are so different. Separated by geography, customs, food, governments, and economic and class status. And then the unimaginable happens, chaos encompasses the globe in a universal experience. And we realize we have so much more in common than we ever imagined. Unemployment and scarcity, vulnerability to disease, loneliness, death.…Read more Across the World
Hide Me in the Cleft
In this time of global chaos and fear, I ask God to hide me in the cleft of His heart. There, my soul anchors into unchanging hope. And I pray His Presence will radiate through me into a desperate world. Exodus 33:22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock…Read more Hide Me in the Cleft
Wandering Home
We feel the passion and delight of God, sailing clear channels. Then suddenly storms swirl, currents drag us under. Flung far from our intended destination, we wonder: has God forgotten what He said? Negated His promise? Sucked into the darkness, we survive day to day. The hopes and dreams of the past fade to a…Read more Wandering Home
Out of Flames… Wings
As I began to paint again, irresistibly drawn by "the stronger pull," an old theme re-surfaces. The idea that out of the fiercest flames of our lives, we are granted wings to fly high - and carry others with us. The Wings are Mine Dense winged creature clawing my chest - cawing over charred dreams,…Read more Out of Flames… Wings
Shattering Into Joy
When I brought him home five years ago, I was broken too. His leg had betrayed him, shattering mid-stride when the thrill of the race outpaced his physical capability. His passion had disintegrated into pieces. I, too, scrambled to collect the shards of a dream. Hope for someone I dearly love had collided with her…Read more Shattering Into Joy
Of Loss and Hope
The grief, the loss of what she had hoped for, lapped as relentlessly, as inevitably, as the breakers crashing again and again—minute after minute, day after day. Repeating their reach and retreat for millennia. Tumbling like so much seaweed, all of what-almost-was washed ashore, only to be drug back out again. Over and over.…Read more Of Loss and Hope
The Final Portal
Just a few days ago we visited a friend in hospice care. I recognized the signs: he stood on heaven's threshhold. Today he crossed over. Strange, the straddling of two worlds. The one leaving, caught betwixt and between, seeing one and then the other. While those who walk with them weep for the coming reality,…Read more The Final Portal
Hallelujahs in the Night
Isaiah 50:10, “Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant, who walks in darkness and has no light, yet trusts in the name of the Lord and relies upon his God?” The treasures of darkness come not to those who avoid pain and suffering. Instead, the treasures of darkness lie…Read more Hallelujahs in the Night
Summer Will Come
My beloved Grandma, otherwise known as Gigi, always used to say, “This too shall pass.” Far more than a cliché to her, the phrase allowed her to laugh in the face of life's tragedies. Her Irish merriment, sprinkled liberally through the years, seasons me still. It broke her heart to send her husband off to…Read more Summer Will Come
