The Swing

My thoughts are meandering back to a place in my past. I am once again sitting in the hot Texas sun as it is streaming, peaking through the old pine. The distant touch of a springtime breeze kissing my cheek, and I am transported back in time.  The weathered board, pressed against my legs, is hot from hanging still in the sun. The ropes feel rough and prickly as I squeeze them with my five year old hands, so tiny and small. I look down and see my bare feet dusty from the journey through the dirt and tall grass. I take a deep breath and kick up my legs in anticipation of soaring high. Then off I go as I lean back and experience what a bird might feel as it takes to flight. I am flying, as I close my eyes up I go and then feeling myself falling back to earth and up again, touching the top of the pine. I go higher still and this time I touch a cloud and back down to earth I fall. My heart is pumping with joy as I once again feel freedom in mid-air. I let go of the rope of my past as my arms are held out before me, I land. The grass is cool and comforting as I roll and tumble to a stop. Laying upon the greenness I am satisfied for now and I open my eyes to gaze into the clouds that I touched. Slowly, I come back into the present and I'm sitting with age upon me as the memory fades away. A smile touches my lips as I know that sweet moment will always be frozen in time of me flying high and touching the sky.

Artist/Critic

The past few days I have been attempting to do portrait pieces using the medium of charcoal and pencil. I have enjoyed this new place of work and have opened myself up to self-evaluation of what is acceptable to myself and if it is “good enough” to allow others to see my work. As an artist, I feel many conflicts swirling around this thought process. When I am alone creating, I am in a different world, a world full of wonder and excitement of being in this creative realm. I am focused on the piece and nothing can pull me away from this beautiful experience. I will work tirelessly for hours and those hours fly by quickly. I am complete in those blocks of time and I know deep within that this is part of me and I embrace the course of my life without regret or self-evaluation if this is what I should be doing. Then all of a sudden I am finished with the creating and then the logical part of me looks to see the flaws. In the past, the critic in me would be disappointed in the outcome. This time I stood back and saw with a critical eye where I needed to improve on parts of the work. I made a decision to take my work and show two other artists that I trust. They were able to give me pointers and instead of feeling closed off, I was open to their help. I don’t know if other artists feel as I do about this process of creating and I only speak of my own experience but I believe that it’s the conflict of the artist and critic and the battle going on inside that makes this important to the process…both are needed to balance the finished product. One flows from the emotional, creative side and the other flows from the logical part of the brain to complete the work that will stand strong with both sides coming together as one. To see and embrace the artist and critic is a balancing act and in time when the two are accepted within, I believe that is when the work becomes the art.

My garden delight

Union

When I awake and open my eyes the light escapes from my heart and enters the sunlit room. I feel your deep touch upon my soul and I hear your whisper of thunder reverberating within. The sounds of love crash against my heart, pulsating and alive in me as love eternal. I am transported into the reality of the deep heart of eternity by just a soft word of revelation. Light, sound and thought come together and emerges through the perpetually thread of life that we are becoming one. I am connected to the great I Am and by the unification of a Man-God so we could be together for eternity. Your resurrection becomes the point of connection and now nothing will separate this heart beating as one for you, the One who was and is and is to come. The burning eyes of fiery love, the burning lamp stand before the throne of the One True God-Man and I am completed in this union of tenderness and devotion.