Mother's Day Poppies

By Hazel Holland

 Poppies to brighten your special day. ♥

Although I already wished all you wonderful women out there a Happy Mother's Day on my Facebook page with a bouquet of flowers, I found these poppies that I painted when I had just become a young mother myself, and I had to post these flowers to you.  I hope these poppies help brighten your special day. ♥

To see a larger copy of this art print click here. 

Did You Hear the Good News?

By Hazel Holland

"Did you hear the good news?"

"Yes, I heard that our sins have been whitewashed by His blood!  What did you both hear?"

"I heard that our sins are white like this snow!"

"Well, I heard that He's given us new hearts so we can love each other!" 

"That's easy.  We're already friends!"

"No! Now it's a different kind of love..."

"How's that?"

"Our new hearts will love each other like He loves us!"

"Well, how does this new kind of love work?"

"It's different from the old way."

"How?"

"Our new hearts are made big enough to love even our enemies!"

"Wow!  That's some kind of new heart He's given us!"

"Yes, it's His love He puts in us!"

"So how should we go about showing this new love to our enemies?"

"He'll show us how to love them!  You'll see!" ♥

Choose Life!

By Hazel Holland

This morning I heard the Holy Spirit speak these words into my spirit...  "The Old Covenant brought Death, but the New Covenant brings Life in the Spirit!  "Will you choose Life or Death? Will you choose Moses or Me?"♥

Then I remembered this picture of a dove that I painted on a larger oil painting many years ago.  Today I knew He wanted me to use it as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, and of our new life in Him!♥

A Leap of Faith

By Hazel Holland

Here's another oil painting from my past that brings back an avalanche of good memories with dear friends...  

I remember burning the midnight oil as I painted this picturesque scene of a remote cabin facing the setting sun.  After I had finished painting it, people would invariably ask me why I had left it unfinished.  When I would tell them that it was finished, they were surprised...

I understood that they wanted to see something visible on the other side of the hill... like a grassy slope reaching down into a fertile valley, or a panoramic view of the ocean touching the sky.  They wanted to see something familiar... something they could count on.

We're all a lot like that, aren't we?  We want to know what's around the next corner or over the next hill before we ever get there.  We don't want to trust our future to someone else.  We want to make our future happen ourselves.  We'd much rather walk by sight and not by faith! 

But God's plan for us to learn to trust Him with our future as we live in the Spirit and walk by faith.  He will move the boulders that block our path, and make stepping stones through the rugged mountain passes in our lives.  For He has promised to make a way where there is no way!

Will you take that leap of faith today and say..."Yes, God! I will step out in You because you are the Solid Rock beneath my feet.  I will choose to trust Your heart and rest in the love that You have provided for me in Your Son, Jesus Christ".

Ordinary Pleasures

By Hazel Holland

Too Busy!

By Hazel Holland

After discovering this painting the other day that I had "abandoned" to that box in the garage, I picked it up and was immediately shocked to see how "busy" this picture was... waaaaaaaaaay too busy!

Then the memories began to flood my mind...  I had painted this picture soon after my son was born, and right after painting the poppies... "A Burst of Sunshine".

I had tried my hand at using a palette knife instead of a brush because I thought that it would be much faster.  It was.  Never mind the fact that I had gotten carried away with the number of flowers I had tried to squeeze into the vase...  I was just "practicing" anyway, and had no serious intention of keeping this trial run.  But like a lot of my other "trial runs" this one too found its way into that forgotten box in the garage, just waiting to be brought back to life at the right time... His time.

Looking at the painting now it is so obviously tooooooo busy!  It reminds me of how busy and full my life was back then as I tried to juggle my new role as a mother with working outside of the home.  No wonder I crammed so many daisies into one small vase.  There was no time to paint a larger vase!

But I could have stopped painting the daisies at any time.  No one had a knife to my throat demanding that I continue to paint them. I was in total control of the palette knife, but I got carried away in my exuberance and joy at seeing flowers materialize so quickly before my eyes.  They reminded me of God's Smile.

By saying that, I'm not at all suggesting that God was smiling at my busyness.  Not at all!  He was smiling at me because He had given me a love for His creation, and now I was beginning to exercise the artistic gift He had given me...

I was taking baby steps back then, but as the years rolled by I matured in my gift and learned how to bring better balance into my pictures... and into my life.  My focus and goals began to change as God became by number one priority.  More balance was restored to the busyness of my life as I began to desire hearing God's voice and knowing His heart...

However, I must confess that sometimes I still get carried away with painting more "daisies" than I can ever fit into the "vase".  In my exuberance and joy at living life in the Spirit I forget that there are still only 24 hours in a day.  Do you know what I mean? 

We need to remember that only as we rest in His love will we be able to hear God's heart for others.  My desire is to let Him show me how to paint "daisies" so that others will see His smile upon them... even in the midst of their busyness.  Then perhaps some will stop just long enough in the midst of their busy day to smell the sweet perfume of his presence, and decide to stop crowding Him out so that they can can paint daisies, too.

Unfinished Business

By Hazel Holland

"He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:6

I just came across this unfinished oil that I began painting many years ago. As you can tell from the expression on the little girl's face she is sad because her toy is broken. Her dog is trying to console her by offering her the comfort of his love through this difficult time.

I remember feeling like this little girl many times back then because my life was broken and I didn't know how to fix it. I longed for someone to offer me the comfort of their presence... someone who would be with me through the rough times.

Even though I didn't know that Someone intimately back then, Jesus was holding me in the palm of His hand as He carefully began putting the pieces of my life back together. Others may leave me, but He would be with me forever.

I think I will leave this oil painting unfinished to remind myself and others that God has not finished painting on the canvas of our lives, either. His promise to us is that the good work He began in us He will complete.

Although at times when we look at our lives we may feel like we are incomplete, we can know for a certainty that we are complete in Him. So let's let go of the nagging temptation to trust in the unfinished work of the Holy Spirit in our lives as the basis of our acceptance with God.

God accepts us on the basis of Christ's finished work on the cross, NOT on the basis of what the Holy Spirit does in our hearts. However, He tells us that He will complete the unfinished business in our hearts so that we can be confident that the One who began this good work in us will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

God's promise is sure. You are complete in Him, but He isn't finished with you yet!

A Priceless Pearl

By Hazel Holland

(I painted this oil about 27 years ago, and then wrote this parable about 20 years ago as I was beginning to get a deeper understanding of the agape love that was in the heart of the Father for you and me.)

One day the Great Pearl Merchant was walking among the rock pools of His universe. He was searching for fine pearls and He knew just where to look—in the most remote places where no one else would venture to go.

One day as He was gazing into the limpid waters He discovered me, tucked away under a large rock hidden from view. Carefully He reached down, picked me up and opened up my rough exterior. I saw Him kneeling there admiring my worth and beauty. The light that came from Him made me glow and sparkle. I had never seen myself before as I really was, because I had always been in the darkness of my prison. But now I saw another world of much light.

He gently laid me down in a safe place and told me He would return. Now I had time to reflect… If He hadn't opened me up I would never have known the truth about myself. I would never have known who I really was. I didn't know that I was a beautiful pearl, because all I had ever experienced was the dark, locked shell, and the constant irritation of fighting against whatever it was that made me feel uncomfortable. But He had seen past my ugly outer defenses.

Soon the Great Pearl Merchant returned from His Kingdom. He had sold all His possessions—everything He owned to purchase me. He kneeled down and lovingly held me in the palm of His hand. I was the Pearl of Great Price that He had been looking for. I was worth everything to Him.

I was so happy to be out of my darkness that I just lay there in His hand, content to reflect His light. I wondered… if I hadn't gone through the constant knocks and irritations of life in the shell, would I be this beautiful pearl that He wanted so much to be with Him forever?♥

Fruitfulness

By Hazel Holland

This was one of the first oil paintings I did many years ago at a time when there seemed to be very little fruitfulness in my life. I wanted to create something beautiful on canvas so that I could forget about the ugliness I felt inside of me... If only I could wipe away the sad memories and erase the bad decisions with one stroke of my oil brush...

Now as I look back at that time in my life when I was walking through a desert valley... I was not deserted or alone because God never abandons His children. He was in the valley with me. He supported me when I stumbled along in the desert. He wiped away my tears when the sorrows of life seemed impossible to bear. He carried me on His shoulders when I was too lost to even know I needed to be found.

But the most beautiful thing I learned about God is that when the Master Artist dips His divine oil brush in His blood to wipe away our mistakes, they do not remain covered up underneath another layer of paint. They are totally removed from the canvas of our life as if the error was never there in the first place. And in the place of our deepest brokenness He uses His oil brush to paint a beautiful picture of our fruitfulness that now comes from Him!