Full of His Glory

Full of His Glory

This might be a long blog post, but I had what I found to be a really interesting thought this morning about a part of my Bible reading, and I would like to tell you about it! I hope you can stand my story-telling as I try to help you 'see' what I 'saw'.

30" x 22"
Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free, heavy weight Fabriano watercolor paper
Ready to frame

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You might remember this part of the story, because I am fairly sure I told you before, but stick with me for a minute. One year, for my birthday, my Beloved Husband took me to visit several galleries as my gift. It was a fabulous gift! We ventured all over the city and in and out of galleries and an art museum (and had delicious philly cheesesteak sandwiches with mountains of fries) and he went into each one with me. He usually found the best leather chair in each place, and patiently waited for me. At one gallery I found a painting that was just mesmerizing. It looked simple and not especially grand with many of the other roaring and shouting abstracts in the room, but when I got close... oh my goodness. I must have stood looking at that piece for nearly an hour! That night in our motel, I could not sleep because I kept seeing that painting! In the morning, I said, "Could you sleep last night, after seeing that painting in the gallery?" to which he replied, "Brenda, I was asleep in the gallery!" Oh yeah. Point taken. But for me, the painting, the gallery, the other galleries and the museum... it was an indescribably beautiful day, and I just could not soak it all in.

In your mind's eye, you probably see "lots and lots of paintings with one she really liked" and have a sort of distant connection with either my perspective or that of my Beloved Husband. I would probably feel the same way if you were describing your vegetable garden to me. But the opportunity of being there, in person, experiencing something I love, when each new example and nuance was interesting to me is something anyone would want to participate in! 

This morning in my Bible, I read this passage:
Isaiah 6:1-4 (ESV)
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.  Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
In another place in the Bible, Revelation 4 , it says that this phrase, Holy, Holy, Holy is repeated endlessly in the presence of God. 

I was thinking in a distant sort of way that it must be loud, and might get to be boring, but then, I got to thinking... 

As I have told you before, my son is a musician. He hears sounds like I see paintings. He notices nuances in tone and color and style, and can listen for hours! The thought came to me that this sound, the seraphim saying "Holy", is probably a magnificent, creative, nuanced sound - kind of like listening to a whole orchestra and being able to hear each moving part, each instrument, each shading of each tone. I picture it being like listening to sound so big (not necessarily loud, but maybe...) that it blows my hair back, and so full that I have to close my eyes to take it in. Like looking at all the paintings in all the galleries and museums at once and being able to appreciate it all at once. 

So now, I have another thing that I am waiting for with great excitement. I really want to hear the seraphim saying, "Holy, Holy, Holy" in the presence of GOD! Don't you?

This painting was exhibited at the Indiana Statehouse for the 2019 Hoosier Women Artists Exhibit.