Tiptoe

We kissed autumn goodbye in a fabulous way this weekend! The weather was so surprisingly pleasant, so we went camping right in our own woods. Of course, the trees are nearly bare, and the woods seems so small, but it was warm enough for just a jacket during the day, and so cold at night that the sleeping bags felt great!

10" x 8"

Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free, heavy weight Fabriano watercolor paper

Ready to frame

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This week has been SO LOUD. US election news is almost inescapable. We have friends in both Honduras and Guatemala who have been impacted by Hurricane Eta, but have not heard much of their status because of 'stormy' news on all of the US news outlets. 

This morning, I got up even earlier than usual to accompany my Beloved Husband to moooove cattle. (Get it?) On our way back toward home, we stopped in a church parking lot so that I could take a couple of photos, and he could clean some "money" from his boots. The sunrise was practically shouting for attention, it was so beautiful! And then, as I turned to get back in the truck, I noticed the quietly beautiful sky in the west, where the sun was painting the bottoms of the clouds. Wow... not loud at all, but so beautiful. 

When I see this painting in a collection of a lot of paintings, it is pretty quiet. It is really fairly easy to miss it altogether. I started working with it today to see whether I could finish it, and in it I could see the swirling of the hurricane and the brilliant color and heavy texture that is toned down by a quiet layer of cool blue tones. Let me tell you, the beauty of this one sneaked up on me as if it were on tiptoe. 

1 Kings 19:11-13 (HCSB)

'Then He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the Lord’s presence.” At that moment, the Lord passed by. A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a voice, a soft whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Suddenly, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” '

In this passage of the Old Testament, Elijah is very discouraged and is hiding when he is told to go out and stand in the Lord's presence. There was a lot of ruckus on that mountain, but the voice of the Lord came to his tired servant very quietly. I have to admit, it has been very easy to be discouraged this year, hasn't it? It has been tough to be quiet enough to stand and listen, but I want to hear when GOD speaks quietly. Maybe today He was speaking to me through beauty sneaking up on tiptoe.