New Every Morning

By Hazel Holland

Our Father's compassion and love for us is new every morning.  Even when we are having a bad day... we may face each new day with the assurance that God's great faithfulness is His gift to us.♥

(Lamentations 3:22-23) 

I began this watercolor painting a little over two months ago when I started teaching art classes at the senior center here in town.  Unfortunately I had a major mishap with it when I tried to remove the masking from an area that I didn't notice was wet!  

Apparently I had dropped a spot of water in the area where I was removing the rubbery masking fluid with my finger.  Immediately the nap of the paper started to get rough and roll up in little balls.  Now I really had problems, and there was no more trying to demonstrate on my painting how to paint snow that day!

I laid the painting on the shelf at  home and began to paint another picture to take it's place before my next art class.  But I couldn't get that wrecked painting out of my mind.  I found myself trying to figure out ways to fix it so that it wouldn't be a total loss...

After I prayed about it I finally came up with the idea that I might give my painting a "shave" in the area that was rough and nappy... and I'd use a flat razor to do it.  So I bravely began the arduous task of shaving being very careful not to cut a hole through the paper.  And this time the paper was dry...

Of course I never realized when I began the "shave" that the small area that initially needed to be shaved would grow in size.  Because I could find no good place to stop the shaving and end the nappy look, I continued to shave for at least half an hour, trying as hard as I could to remove the little rolled up balls of paper that seemed to multiply faster that I could get rid of them.  As soon as I thought I had found a good place to stop and end the shaving, the paper would look like it was growing grass again when I dampened it with water.

One thing I knew for sure...  the one area of the painting that was supposed to be a white snow bank would have to be covered with bushes.  You see... dark paint hides mistakes, but white paint exposes them.  Kind of like when you turn on a light...

But the bushes worked... and the painting was saved.  My students were delighted and amazed to learn that you can actually "shave" a painting instead of throwing it out in the trash.  So was I. 

This got me to wondering... how many times in life do we throw away what appears to be "trash"?  Of course we only see things from our limited human perspectives.  But what if God were to put out His arm in front of us and stop us from sweeping away those things in our lives that appear to be nothing more than a useless pile of rubbish.  

What if He were to say to us, "Everything that you are about to sweep away is not trash!"  Would we put down our broom and stop and listen to Him?  Would we believe Him?  Would we suddenly want to see things from His perspective instead of our own?

From our limited vision we are not able to see the complete picture like He does.  But the Holy Spirit has been given to us to help us see things from our Father's loving perspective.   When He looks at us He sees no second class people.  Although people may live in the gutter all of their lives, He doesn't see them as trash... as throwaways.  He sees them as His beloved sons and daughters.

So the next time you are having a bad day, or are about to give up on something that seems like it is destined for the trash heap, take another look at it... this time from His perspective.  You might be surprised to discover that something beautiful can be made, not only from the mistakes that you make, but from the mistakes that others make, too. ♥

Click here to see a larger image of the painting!