8" X 8" Oil on Panel
"Sharing"
8" X 10" Oil on panel
8" X 10" Oil on panel
For those of you that think flowers can’t talk, well, you’d
just better think again, as my mother would say. While I had heard no audible words (thankfully), I’m telling you, she
wouldn’t leave me alone.
She showed up about eight weeks ago. Breathing a sigh of relief, I
acknowledged her presence with a slight smile and a nod of my head, and I
excitedly shared the news with my husband. She was so late, we thought perhaps she, like many
others, had fallen victim to our very harsh, recording setting winter.
When spring emerged, we began to see whispers of green on
her stems, but the ivy surrounding her remained a mess of intertwining brown
vines. Though she was slow to
recover with stunted growth and absent foliage, it appeared she had survived!
Endless Summer is
her name - a beautiful, normally prolific
hydrangea bush that struts large pink, showy pom-poms against a mass of greens,
ranging from very pale chartreuse to cool, dark blue-greens.
Our hope finally turned into reality as we watched a small
mop of green grow into one single, yet strong cluster of bright pink and shoot
straight up, towering over the top of the bush. She had survived the season’s yoke
of oppression and burst forth into new life! Her message, spoken only through her mere presence, remains
loud and clear;
Even though we go through barren
times – times where we feel in
chains, either circumstantial or
self-imposed - there is hope for us captives as Jesus came to “set the us free,
to release us from darkness, to grow us into oaks of righteousness, for the
display of His splendor.” (Taken from Isaiah 61:1-3)
What is preventing us from being the prolific bearer of
fruit that God created us to be? It’s easier to remain a victim – blaming our
circumstances, others, our limitations, the timing – any excuse not to own the
problem. Let’s surrender our
“harsh winter” to Him, and allow Him to transform us into flourishing late
bloomers – for the display of His splendor!
P.S. I tried to paint the lone bloom within the
context of our backyard setting, but it didn’t make a very interesting
composition. So, I used a
reference from somewhere else, even though Endless Summer looked a lot like
this one until just a few days ago!!!
I so appreciate her sharing her gifts!!!
