Shadow Play

This watercolor brings back a lot of memories...living on Isabelle in the little yellow house, as we used to call it. Chris was small and I was a new art instructor at the Memphis College of Art. I loved my life as a mommy and as an artist/teacher and a wife to a loving husband. Life was one of contentment and bliss most of the time. Four years in that house brought about many changes. We decided that we wanted to move east to the Smokies. We longed to be closer to nature and away from the city where our fears were growing every day. Traffic in our neighborhood meant an unsafe yard for our littlest one. Strangers, too, made us unsure of his safety. Oh, how he loved the outdoors: swinging in the tire swing, playing with the dogs and puppies, playing under his private fountain (the waterhose). Piling leaves all on top of him, I can still hear him giggling! We loved to go camping together as a family then. The photo that was a reference for this painting was taken on one of our trips to Fall Creek Falls in those days...now we live just down the road!

As I think about all of these wonderful memories, I think about shadows, too. In the scripture, "shadow" is used in some special ways. The psalmist says, "In the shadow of His wings, I will sing for joy." The psalmist speaks of abiding and dwelling in the shadow of the Most High, as well as walking in the valley of the shadow of death.

Shadows can be either lovely and consoling, or they can be horrifying. Shadows of things past can haunt us, or they can bring us great joy in remembering. If you abide in a shadow, the source of that shadow is very close to you. Drawing near to God as James speaks of, is that kind of shadow we want to dwell within. Abiding in Christ, dwelling in His Shadow, we have shade from the heat of this world, we have comfort. and we are refreshed so we can keep on walking here. Life is full of things that drain us and discourage us and pull us down, but if we abide in the Shadow of the Most High, we have everything we need to make it. The psalmist said in His presence are pleasures forever more and everlasting joy. Mary, who sat at His precious feet, knew a secret that many in that day missed, and many are still missing it: sitting in His Shadow is the place to reside, for it is there that we drink from the Fountain of Life and find hope and courage to keep on keeping on.

Shalom!