A Burst of Sunshine

By Hazel Holland

Here are another couple of paintings I found tucked away in a box in the garage.  These California poppies were my first try at doing oils while I was recovering from my C-section after giving birth to my son.

I must confess that, after moving to California, whenever I saw wild poppies growing beside the road I wanted to immediately stop the car and get out and pick some... that is until friends quickly informed me that picking the state flower that grew so profusely along the county roads was a misdemeanor.  To me it seemed such a shame that none of these bright and beautiful, wild flowers would ever make their way into a vase in my home.  So my next best option was to try and paint them instead. 

These poppies were painted at a time when I was so happy to be a mommy.   My son was a burst of sunshine that brought such joy into my life.  And apparently that joy started to bubble up inside of me  during the C-section surgery, because my doctor's first words to me in the recovery room were: "You have a beautiful singing voice, Mrs. Holland!"

 "Huh?  What do you mean?" I groggily responded.

"You sang at the top of your lungs throughout the entire surgery, "I'm gonna have a beautiful baby!  I'm gonna have a beautiful boy!  You repeated these words over and over and over again!" 

"Really?  I sang?"

"Yes!  Usually all I hear from my patients is swearing!  So hearing you sing like that was a real treat.  And guess what?  You do have a beautiful baby!  You do have a beautiful boy!"

Of course back then I had no idea whether I was going to have a boy or a girl.  But God knew.  And I like to think that He chose to give me a joyful song back then to always remind me of how He knows everything about me... even the unspoken desires of my heart.

He knows everything about you, too... even the unspoken desires of your heart.  More than anything else His desire for you is that you come to know Him like He knows you...intimately.  And when you do, His joy will be like a burst of sunshine flooding your soul, and your heart will not be able to contain it.

See art link: Too Busy!