Painting the Sky

Clouds and skyscapes are my current obsession.  I dream of being able to paint them as beautifully as God does. The near irreverent thought occurred to me recently that this must be a huge task each day, even for the Almighty! Perhaps, He handles this, my thoughts went on, by allowing the many talented artists who have passed into eternity to help him paint these wonderful skyscapes! This afternoon I had a telephone conversation with my mother that solidified my theory. 

Mom is now a lovely, but frail, 87 years old.  My mother’s memory fails her most of the time and she tires quickly which means our conversations have become sadly brief.  Today was different; a torrent of very precious memories and amusing stories spilled from mom’s lips!  This afternoon, mom recounted numerous details of my family’s adventurous life as missionaries in Africa and ministry throughout the USA. Most precious of all were her expressions of love for my late father.

My parents met in Cleveland, where my South African dad was attending Lee University and mom was an illustrator at the adjacent publishing house.  Mom told me that many of their early date nights were spent on art projects for the student events. She recalled the fun they had creating a backdrop for the Alabama students’ evening.  Dad easily drew a large outline of  “The Alabama” onto a large backdrop while she painted the ship’s colors onto it.  Their lives were busy with ministry responsibilities in the years I was growing up. There was little time for either of them to paint but it didn’t change the fact that they were both artists to the core.  

For two hours and fifteen minutes today, I listened with rapt attention and a grateful heart as mom shared her memories and a few personal glimpses I had never heard before.  Then she whispered softly, “I even wrote a song in my head about your daddy!  I wrote how I saw him pulling the clouds aside to look down at me.  He can paint them, you know, Cheryl!  Your daddy loves helping God paint the sky.”  I wept with happy tears.

My Perspective

“Earth’s Crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God,

But only he who sees takes off his shoes;

The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”

Elizabeth Barret Browning

A study conducted a few years ago by researchers at the University of California at San Diego led the team to believe that people are daily inundated with an amount of information equivalent to 34 Gb, enough to overload a laptop within a week!    

It’s wise to be careful that what we take in is leading us into a place of health and hope rather than a place of despair.

I have intentionally calibrated the lens through which I see the world to align with what I have learned about the nature of God. God has proven himself good, loving and faithful to me, therefore I filter everything I see and hear through that premise.  I look for the evidence of his goodness all around me. It’s true that we find what we want to see, and I want to see God. I want to feast on as many beautiful aspects of nature and loving smiles as I possibly can.  I want to celebrate every sign of heaven I can find on this earth!

God has hidden glimpses of himself, like a father hiding Easter eggs for his toddlers, in places child-like eyes can easily search out. They are visible to those who want to see; each one planted like a precious gift to bring us hope, courage and the whisper of his love.  In all this lies the inspiration I find in creating happy paintings, often with a little gift hidden in them, and always in the hope that they will make you smile.