Drawing Challenge

Daily Drawing #175, Peace, Peace, Perfect Peace

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The title of my drawing today is, “Give Me A Little Peace.” When I was kid I knew a lot of people who were hippies. There favorite greeting was to say was, “Peace Man.” Wouldn’t it be great if we all knew real peace especially in the world we live in now. One of my favorite books of the Bible is James and one of my favorite verses is James 3:18 ESV, “And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” I am not quarrelsome person I love to be at peace because to me to get peace from others you need to be a bearer of peace and love to others. Oh what our world be if our social media was filled with peaceful messages instead of full of barbs and hate.

Daily Drawing #172, Warning! Letters Can Lead to Words

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I have discovered in my lifetime that letters when put together can lead to words. Shocking right? It was to me tomorrow the way the letters are assembled is entirely up to you but be warned letters formed into the wrong words can be harmful. The Bible warns us in Proverbs 12:18, “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” So the next time you’re forming your letters into words, choose wisely.

Daily Drawing #163, The Sands of Time Ebb Away

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The title of my piece for today is, “The Long But Shorter Road.” The prompt for today was the word, “sand,” that is why I chose a person stuck in the desert of life with the long road ahead but which ebbs away each day. “Movies are written in sand: applauded today, forgotten tomorrow.” D. W. Griffit Isn’t life like that also. We try to get a names for ourselves in this life, a reputation people will applaud but which will be forgotten tomorrow. In the end the only accolades we should live our lives seeking are the word of Jesus when He says, “Welcome good and faithful servant.

With the hectic summer some of my message will be brief, but always accompanied by a new drawing. Have a good and safe summer and remember others are watching, waiting for you to show them love.

Daily Drawing #159, First the Storm Then The Calm

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. The prompt for today is the word, “calm” and the drawing I created is called, “After Storm, Calm Lake.” In life we’re going to have storms. These storms usually come quickly giving us little time to prepare. I myself have been through many of these storms in the last couple of years the most recent being a bought with cancer and tumultuous school year which saw many changes in the classroom I was in even a change of classrooms. People often ask me how I can keep a smile on my face after all I have been through. The key for me is to weather the storms and wait for the calm.

I would be remiss if I didn’t admit to times of depression and worry which come with the storms. These are the times when I like Peter take my eyes off of Jesus and start to sink. Still I weather even these moments as well as the storms by keeping my faith in God and knowing He is there walking alongside me keeping me safe during the high winds and battering seas. This may sound cliche for some or tiresome for others but it is how I get through the storms and will get through those yet to come for however many years I have left.

Daily Drawing #158, Try Being A Wise Guy or Girl

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The word prompt for today is, “evening.” I chose to draw an owl because it was the first thing which popped into my head. When I was young and out walking around at dusk I would look for owls. We had a lot of woods around us and I figured there had to be owls making their homes in the tree. I don’t remember if I ever saw one or not but I have seen barn owls and such.

Owls are birds which have always been associated with wisdom, hence the phrase, “as wise an owl.” Now I am not an owl expert but I am an expert on wisdom. The reason I say that is there are many times in my life when I failed to use wisdom in my decision making process. This has led to many missteps and difficulties. Oh yeah, it has cost me a lot of money and unwarranted debt.

I have learned in these the later years of my life not to make any rash decisions. If I am unsure how to proceed in a certain situation I seek the wise council of someone who has more knowledge in dealing with the situation. Wisdom I think, is not something you’re totally born with it is something which grows inside you as you learn and age. The more you grow through the more wisdom you gain. So you younger people don’t write off us older adults. We’ve been there, done that and are willing to offer advice free of charge.

Daily Drawing #157, Seeing Things From Different Angles

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As a child we see the world looking up. Everything seems so big, so out of reach. As we grow the world around us shrinks and we no longer need reaching things. As adults we see things from a different angles sometimes below us like my drawing, “Down in the Valley,” or sometimes above us like the mountains in the background.  Why all the talk about angles mainly because we need to be careful not to look down on anyone.

We are all in the same race, the human race and as such we need to do as Jesus instructed us in Mark 12:31, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” The next question is who is your neighbor? It is not only the people who live around you. It is all the people you come in contact with on a daily basis. Treat everyone with a high angle by looking upward to God to give you the wisdom to deal with even those who you deem worse off or not up to your standards.

Daily Art #153, The Noisy Pencil

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The prompt for today is the word,”noisy.” Right away my thoughts turned to music because I work at a place where the students are always listening to music…out loud. I like music but when you’re trying to help the instructor teach a lesson it can be downright distracting. My mind also hearkened back to when people actually used a pencil to write on pages. Words on a page can make a lot of noise when read out loud or just to yourself.

When I was in school teachers used to tell us to read our papers back to ourselves so we could find our mistakes. Still in my case the choice of the pencil for my drawing entitled, “The Noisy Pencil,” was more because as an artist my favorite tools to create my noise on paper is the pencil. I love to draw and create using a pencil first then filling in the details later. There is something fulfilling about picking up a pencil and creating. God who is the ultimate artist put the desire to create in our hearts. It is up to us to use our gift and create.

Daily Drawing #152, A Couple Means Being Together

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The prompt for today was the word, “together.” I came up with all sorts of ideas for things which go together like PB&J,  ham on rye or the Lone Ranger and Tonto.  Over the years there have been many great pairings many of which would have made great drawings. I chose the drawing of the girl and boy entitled, “Together,” because a couple must be together in all things. There is an old adage, “Divided we fall, Together We Stand.”

This is true in a relationship, in marriage, at work and at church. There are times in the life of a church when we forget God put us together to do His work. These are the times when the church loses its togetherness and becomes a group of people all with their own agendas. This leads to broken relationships and hurting hearts. The key to being in a healthy relationship is a paraphrased version of an old JFK quote, “Ask not what the relationship can do for you, ask what you can do for the relationship.” No matter what the relationship is, husband/wife, employee/employer, church member/church leader. As God says seek to out others higher than yourself and life will feel so much more fulfilling.

Daily Drawing #151, Curiosity by Candlelight

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In our society we don’t do much by candlelight anymore, well except those scented kind which rid the home of unwanted smell. In by gone days candles were the chief source of light along with oil lamps. I have often wondered what it was like reading by candlelight or any other task like sewing. People managed and people filled their, “Curiosities by Candlelight,” the title of my quick little drawing for today. The drawing is one of my practice illustrations. The curious little candle comes down off of his pedestal to read.

As a child reading was my thing. Others played sports, played in the band or just hung out but I liked to read. I read anything I could my hands on, fiction or non-fiction. I have lost count of the number of books I have read in my lifetime. The list keeps growing each day. The one book which is my favorite,The Bible, is still my go to book every morning, and at times in the evening. The Bible offers me advice, the Book of Proverbs, it give me direction for my life in Psalms and the New Testament. The Bible is not antiquated like some say. It is still relevant. I would read it by candlelight if I had to but the Bible is the one book I will pick up again and again.