Soul Painting

My Dad's sister came over for dinner. This was a big deal because she hasn't been well and hasn't ventured out of her home in quite a while. Actually I was really excited to see her in such a great state of mind after seeing her at my grandfather's funeral about three years ago, I was pretty worried I wouldn't see her again. She has pulled through for the most part and is actually painting again. She really is a talented artist, and as all artist go has her quirkiness that seems to go hand in hand. But tonight at dinner I felt she was back to her old self in many ways and I was very excited to see her new paintings. She has always been an inspiration to me as far as painting goes, so I look forward to her new work. It was odd, as I looked at her paintings..something had definitely changed. Her work was good, not as good as before in my humble opinion. But it was something else, the tone of her work was speaking volumes behind their frames. They were still paintings of horses and landscape, wildlife and far reaching Arizona skies, but there was a glaring difference in each color and hue. My parents were quick to ask her to tell me what they meant, I suppose she had explained to them the drastic differences. She looked at me and said, Brooke will know what they mean. I took this as a compliment, feeling a bit like I was considered an artist in her mind. Being put on the spot I just spurted out what they made me feel. My words were:lonely, desperate,falling, turmoil,and death.You know how sometimes you see something and and you feel it, but when you say it, even if your asked too, you regret it a little? Well I seem to always know that feeling and tonight was no different. To say the least I nailed it on the head and she explained to me she was a different person today than before. I think her paintings were a reflection of her, on the inside as of late. It's rare to see people's insides. ..I'm kind of glad, it was hard to see that and think of her the same way. I think of Jesus, and how he sees our inner most being and how it must hurt Him. And yet he sees us as His perfect creation. He wants us to see ourselves the way He sees us, and instead we seem to dwell onthe lonely,the turmoil and even death. It becomes so clear when I see my aunt this way, that Jesus is the only way to find inner peace and joy. I pray that Christ gives me better eyes to see a person's paintings like He does, to open my eyes to their insides and love them right there. I suppose If I showed you paintings I've done at different times throughout my short and pitiful painting career; you would see a different person in me too. My hope, is that what I portray on the outside, is what I'd put on canvas and that it would be glorifying to God. Well, I can always hope:)