Here is how I started with my painting yesterday.
I then traced my drawing on to my prepared background with
carbon paper.
Then I start by painting the face.
I never know what my painting will look like!
I am always surprised!!
"Dedicate yourselves to thankfulness..." Colossians 3:15
My New year's resolution is to smile more and be more grateful. As I've grown older, I've noticed that I frown a lot! I have this friend who likes taking pictures, and he always manages to catch me with a frown on my face! Maybe because I have more concerns, especially since my mom died three years ago. Although I manage to thank God for my blessings, and write them down in my journal, I do believe that I cannot be thankful enough!
In Philippians 4:8, we read, "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things."
I have to CHOOSE to think about what I am grateful for, instead of what I am unhappy or frustrated about, what I want changed, what I can't do anything about! If I choose this, my thoughts will become my actions (I will smile more!!!), my actions will become a habit, and this will be my destiny- to be a person so grateful and thankful, nothing can faze me!
"Herod ordered the massacre of all the boys two years old and under in Bethlehem and its environs, making his calculations on the basis of the date he had learned from the astrologers." Matthew 3:16
Herod was an extremely evil man, deranged even. He killed his favorite wife, her mother and several of his sons. A non-Christian writer, Macrobius, quipped that when Emperor Augustus heard that among the boys in Syria under two years old whom Herod, king of the Jews, had ordered to kill, his own son was also killed, he said: "It is better to be Herod's pig, than his son." He was so paranoid that someone would take away his throne that he would get rid of uncles, cousins, rabbis by burning them alive! What sort of a man would use his intellect, as he made "calculations on the basis of the date learned from the astrologers"?
I can imagine how he could not sleep at night as he came up with his devious plots and schemes! But it was all for naught, wasn't it? We do not know where Herod is now, for all the power he wielded against his so called enemies. And the King he tried to destroy reigns and will continue to reign!
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visiting here:
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I love your painting. Thanks for sharing your process. Thankfulness is a good goal to have. Today I was looking at the painting you sent to me and I was feeling thankful for you.
ReplyDeleteBlessing hugs,
Teresa
I like your meditation and painting about smiling and being thankful--I feel more cheerful when I look at its bright colors and your serene expression! Thank you for making and sharing it!
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