Such Gentleness

By Hazel Holland

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God." Psalm 42:1

When I first set out to try my hand at doing pastels years ago, I told myself that I was just "practicing" because of all the mistakes I was making in this first picture, and knew I couldn't erase.

I think I was impressed to draw a mother deer with her baby fawn because it was a reminder of the love and closeness that I had always longed for as a child, but never received. There was something about the gentleness of this mother deer that helped me understand that this was God's intention for His creation from the very beginning...

But sin has left its ugly scars on God's creation so that our longings for love and closeness are not always realized when we need them the most. However, God knew this would happen, and so He chose to enter into our world and become the love and closeness that we all need.

Now, through the Spirit, we can enter into an intimate relationship with God and receive His love...a love that our souls have always longed for. Now, like the deer that seeks to drink from streams of water, we can drink from His streams of Living Water where we will never thirst again.