The Treehouse in the Garden

Treehouse in the Garden

Memories of summer and tea with Mrs. Mayer, mentor and friend. She was an avid gardener, gourmet cook, reader of novels and books. She created her world and when you stepped into her life you were treated in a special way. Once living five minutes away off a busy street in Hales Corners, she moved to raise goats and chickens in the Michigan country where it was quiet.

She made a lovely place for my daughters and I to visit together.

Mrs. Mayer mentored my oldest daughter into her professional life from the beginning of her leaving me for adulthood. She smoothed the path for both of
us.

This is Mrs. Mayer's treehouse... and her daughter Rachael's.

Original Graphite circa 1998
28" x23" $250 matted $350 matted and framed

Print 15.5" x 20" $ 75

Speaking without Words

Monday, January 15, 2007

Sometimes words are not enough.

The Spirit helps our weakness; for we so do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints (us set apart to Him ones) according the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27)

This past month has presented unprecedented challenges.

Although I have written some on the difficulty in my blog, Art Thoughts with Judith Reidy, I have wanted to create a painting that reflected an unbifricated view the world God had shown me at this time.

I wanted to express a truth as I saw and felt it, a truth that if expressed in words could not assault our minds eye and capture our attentional amazement.

I wished to create a piece that was

not merely narrative

and definitively framed.

I desired to relay the tension and mystery attending the vision.

I had reshaped an old image in view of recent revelations.

The painting needed to reflect a truth.

The strength and resilience of the bold colors of the past were

recast in gray,

like gauze over a wound

or a cloak over an exposed soul.

Humility before Him overshadows the power of self-sufficiency.

Will the day dawn and morning star arise in the heart?

Will attention be given to the lamp shining in a dark place?

Who is the naked one? Who covers their head? Who is broken before Him?

Why?

a reflective prayer in a journal

Wednesday, January 03, 2007
I have nothing to say. Too much has happened. I am numb from trying to sort it all out. Sometimes our lives are like brown paper packages tied up in string.

Most of the time they are not.

Sometimes one realizes that no human person can make it work together in a sensible way. That is where trust is important, knowing ones boundaries of responsibility is helpful and finally resting in faith while oddly enough being vigilant in prayer. Such is my current state.

I was once told by Him, not in an audible voice but in a quiet whisper, “I made you for Myself. You were made to rest in Me. That is your home, where you are whole. There you radiant light as well.”
You know what? It is true. It is resting in and basking near Him that I don’t have that restless urge or anxious talk. Just like I practice drawing people every day and my figure drawing improves, so as I practice resting and trusting in Him, my trust grows and my rest deepens. Practice the Presence of God. It is like breathing in and breathing out. Rest come to those who wait on Him.

Once I prayed for a Christian Husband, even before I knew what that was....before I was a Christian. I was taking Yoga. I was seeking. I forgot my earnest request, yet God did not forget. He gave me what I asked and reminded me that I had asked for that as well as the fruit of a Christian marriage, a Christian family, godly offspring. For I asked for that which was according to His will, He will surely give it. “Every good and perfect gift comes from above from whom there is no shifting shadow…” Though I forget, he does not forget. He is faithful, when I am not. He cannot deny Himself. God has a long nose according to the Hebrew Scriptures; He is slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness. I guess, now has come the time for me to learn what it means to wait upon the Lord, to soar on eagles wings and to walk through the valley. Selah.

One undeniable fact remains His Son, Jesus, came in the flesh, died according to the Scriptures and was buried and descended into hell and on the third day rose from the dead.

In His resurrection, he is declared both Lord and Christ. As Lord and Christ, in view of what he has done for us, we owe Him our very life and are now through Him are able to freely and gratefully offer our new life in Him. We no longer live in fear, for perfect love casts out fear. If we still know fear, we can look forward to being perfected in love each day through a love that casts out our fear.

Perfect love casts out fear. If we fear in His holy presence we are not perfected in love, yet we are not without hope for He has come to destroy the works of the devil and to bring to completion the work He has begun in us. He gives us new life and a fruitful life in Him. I am my beloved and my beloved is mine. He, distinct from any, will never leave me or forsake me.

It is good to remember His words and His work. For in them we have eternal life and our soul is nourished, even when “too much has happened and I am numb from trying to sort it all out.”