Living in the Shadows

By Hazel Holland

I tried my hand at a new technique in watercolor painting yesterday by using soft pastels to bring the final details to the watercolor background that was done with wet colored tissue paper.

Today as I took another look at the flowers in this painting I was reminded that sometimes in life we are like these flowers... We live too many days of our lives in the shadows of fear and doubt so that we don't recognize that God's mercies are new every morning.  But when the Son-shine of God's grace falls upon us, the shadows recede and Light illuminates the place that was earlier clothed in darkness. 

Although I tried my hand at a new technique in painting yesterday, today as I looked at this picture it reminded me that there are no new "techniques" to living in the shadows.  Flowers require sunlight to grow and so do we.  We can only blossom as we live in the Spirit and bask in the Son-light of God's mercy and grace. 

Without His love we are merely living in the shadows, and cannot possibly become all that God designs for us to be... a sweet smelling fragrance... the unmistakable aroma of His grace.♥ 

To see a larger copy of this artwork click here.