What is it about this statement from God and recorded by the Prophet Isaiah?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
This statement, or this promise, recorded in Isaiah 43 touches me to the core. It reaches into my soul that is so often parched by the events of life. As for the watercolor painting above, A Way in the Wilderness, you may have seen it before. I published it in this blog already. But this time, I would like for you to engage with me in a few moments of art appreciation. Consider the following questions.
What do you see in the painting?
What strikes you about it?
If you could choose one word or phrase or sentence in it that most relates to your life, what would you choose?
What do you see in the images and colors?
What do you see as the overarching theme of it?
What does it say to you? Or ask of you?
Okay! So maybe the painting says nothing to you! You’re not into art appreciation and it has no deeper meaning than paint to paper! I totally get that, but still, I want to tell you what it meant for me as I was creating it.
So much more than paint on paper, painting it was an emotional and spiritual release from my own wilderness. It was my way of learning to find rivers in my desert. Understand, it did not mean I could leave the desert and put the wilderness in my rear view. Instead, it allowed me to express my reality: that I live in the wilderness, but streams of river water quench my soul’s thirst in the desert.
That’s real and honest. A gut-punch of reality for me. Wilderness and desert terrain are common life habitations, for me and probably for you as well. I don’t live near the breezes of an ocean or on a ridge in breathtaking, snow-capped mountains.
I just live on a regular street in a regular town, and sometimes that can feel like wilderness.
What does that have to do with anything? Just this: During the times I feel as if I’m living in a desert wilderness, I need to remember the river. Or putting it another way, what I feel emotionally may be MY reality, but it is not THE reality.
It is not the ultimate reality of a life that is so filled with deserts and streams, storms and sunshine, smooth ways and rocky pathways, despair and hope, doubt and faith, sorrow and joy, death and life . . .
May your life be filled to overflowing with all of those things.
Chui has a very personal motivation for the project. When he was eight, he crossed that border with his mother and lived in Los Angeles for a year without legal status. He grew into a renowned artist and envisioned this project, which he dedicated “to all those people who are looking for a better life. Who take enormous risks. Or those have been deported and are separated from their families.”
I have always loved Tree of Life images. They remind us of our rootedness, our connectedness, our potential for flourishing growth. This Tree of Life watercolor features a woman as the giver of life. She is strong and steady, with arms ourstretched, and she stands as a foundation at the center of life. On her chest is an amulet called the “Mati or the evil eye. The evil eye amulet originated in Greece, where it was known as an “apotropaic” amulet, meaning that it reflected harm and thus protected the wearer.
“I Can’t Breathe!”
Blue
WomanSpirit
Santa
Friends
Yellow
Autumn
Celebrating
Bunny
Paisley
Gentle
Holly
Shhhh
Wisdom
Wildflowers
Abstract
Peace
Colors
Birches
Frogs
Dance
Circles
Greek Village
Pinks
Red
Floral
Magnolia
Lilacs
Πατρίθα
Coffee
Holy
Magical
Pines
Holy
Sunlight
Jackie’s
Ornamental 
Plains
Mountain
Ugandan
Family
Masai
Bamboo
Flutter
Branches
Glisten
Windmill
Safari
Whimsey
Flight
Blue
Luminescence