When I was a teen, I dabbled with paint by numbers. I still have a few of those “paintings.” They aren’t half-bad. (That’s a Norwegian superlative.) I will probably
hang (hide) them somewhere in my home when I get it finished.
But my feeble artistic efforts were never a match for those of my wife. Terry didn’t need a paint-by-numbers guide for her work: whether it was painting ceramic ornaments for our Christmas tree, or wooden cut-out mushrooms for the garden, Disney’s Seven Dwarfs that add a note of whimsy to our flower beds (oops—copyright?), or even a detailed Nativity set for our annual Christmas display. Her creations went light-years beyond mine—in nuances of color, depth, shading, and perspective.
Yet even Terry could never hold a candle to the painting our Heavenly Father is doing all around us right now! On every side the Lord is wielding his divine paintbrush and
splashing dazzling yellows, oranges, and reds on maples, aspens, poplars and oaks.
These colors pack even more punch because they are framed by the lush greens of
massive pines and hemlocks.
This is a perfect time of the year for long, brisk walks on wooded paths or hushed, treeframed side-roads. For sipping a cup of hot chocolate while seated next to a roaring
evening campfire. For end-of-season, lazy-hazy boat rides when we spend more time
drinking in the beauty of the shore-line than we do marveling at yet another puny perch
we toss back so it can grow and be less puny next year.
Whether we get outside to be immersed in the beauty of God’s creation, or whether we
merely admire God’s handiwork through our living room window, this is a great time of
the year to be refreshed by the Lord’s stunning artistry, before our Father puts everything to bed again under a blanket of white. The changing of the seasons serves as our Father’s grand object lesson, his children’s message designed to cement this truth into your heart and mine. That until that great and glorious Day when our Lord returns to take us home to heaven--he will keep the guarantee he once made to Noah and his family.
“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and
day and night shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:22, EHV)
Privileged to serve,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke
hang (hide) them somewhere in my home when I get it finished.
But my feeble artistic efforts were never a match for those of my wife. Terry didn’t need a paint-by-numbers guide for her work: whether it was painting ceramic ornaments for our Christmas tree, or wooden cut-out mushrooms for the garden, Disney’s Seven Dwarfs that add a note of whimsy to our flower beds (oops—copyright?), or even a detailed Nativity set for our annual Christmas display. Her creations went light-years beyond mine—in nuances of color, depth, shading, and perspective.
Yet even Terry could never hold a candle to the painting our Heavenly Father is doing all around us right now! On every side the Lord is wielding his divine paintbrush and
splashing dazzling yellows, oranges, and reds on maples, aspens, poplars and oaks.
These colors pack even more punch because they are framed by the lush greens of
massive pines and hemlocks.
This is a perfect time of the year for long, brisk walks on wooded paths or hushed, treeframed side-roads. For sipping a cup of hot chocolate while seated next to a roaring
evening campfire. For end-of-season, lazy-hazy boat rides when we spend more time
drinking in the beauty of the shore-line than we do marveling at yet another puny perch
we toss back so it can grow and be less puny next year.
Whether we get outside to be immersed in the beauty of God’s creation, or whether we
merely admire God’s handiwork through our living room window, this is a great time of
the year to be refreshed by the Lord’s stunning artistry, before our Father puts everything to bed again under a blanket of white. The changing of the seasons serves as our Father’s grand object lesson, his children’s message designed to cement this truth into your heart and mine. That until that great and glorious Day when our Lord returns to take us home to heaven--he will keep the guarantee he once made to Noah and his family.
“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and
day and night shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:22, EHV)
Privileged to serve,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke
RSS Feed
