So this weekend was a mixed bag. Therefore, this painting

This is what happens when you get a head cold and you can’t go the King Kalediscope concert and a violent chicken decapitation happens right outside your door (darn murderous raccoons!!). But that’s a story for later…today is more introspective.

painting ➡️thinking➡️writing

I was confronted this weekend with the idea that if we are living in fear that danger, sickness, death and violence are lurking at every corner then we are living in the shadow of hell. Heaven says that evil doesn’t win, and that suffering ends. Jesus has more in mind for us than simply waiting in terror for the next “boogeyman” to pop out of the bushes. We were made to create beautiful lasting things on this Earth like relationships, wisdom, kindness, and to be restorers of what’s been broken.

Part of why I write is because I believe that words can be just as powerful as the things we make with our hands. I like to create because it helps me in the midst of waves of emotions and because I have found solace in the words of others. Fear tells us to stay trapped in our minds and to not share with other people, fear tells us that we shouldn’t use our talents and abilities to make our homes and neighborhoods better, safer, and full of abundant life.

Love conquers fear and one day it will conquer all fear. I know it’s loaded with cheesiness but God takes my cheeky mug of NOPE and turns it into HOPE (Haven’t made bumper stickers yet). Not the kind of hope that makes me bury my head in the sand and ignore the world outside, but one that propels me to wake up from a nightmare or a tragic news report and say “This will end. Jesus help me mend it.”

Jesus takes a seat beside me at the table where I’m sipping a steaming mug of apathy or grief and he says “You’re not alone.”

It’s easy for me to forget that a lot of Bible heroes had stretches of unglamorous times. Esther was just an orphan for long time. David herded sheep. Moses hid in the desert. Sometimes the drink you’ve brewed is bitter. It’s not the final celebration toast in Heaven, which is sweet and flavorful and will never be tainted with sorrow.

Drink up.

What unexpected places have you found hope? What words have helped you conquer fear?
K