Bounty

"Bounty" 8x10", oil on gessobord

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"The best way to know God is to love many things."

—Vincent Van Gogh

Nothing in a landscape makes me smile more than to see stacks of freshly baled hay dotting the horizon along a country farm road. This painting was of a photo I took in Montana over the summer. I could paint hay stacks over and over again. I wonder if Monet and Van Gogh might have had a similar obsession? 

Seeing bales scattered across a field gives me an inner sense of peace, causing me to reflect on the bounty of our own lives. To me, these gravestone-like-monuments are symbols representing lives of ultimate survival on the battlefield called life. Threatened by extreme weather, violent storms, lack of water, too much water, fighting off weeds and pests, the hay—with with all of its imperfections—is harvested at the perfect moment, and gathered into the bounty of a full life in all of its glory. 

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, what a perfect time to give thanks for the gift of our lives, where one day, our fruits too will be rolled into glowing bales.

Thanks for viewing,

nancy

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Morning Mindfulness

"Morning Mindfulness" 10x8" oil on canvas board

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"Awake, harp and lyre!
     I will awaken the dawn."
— Psalm 57: 8

For some reason, I have been waking up at 3:00 a.m. most every morning lately, unable to go back to sleep...UGH! When this happens, I've started trying to apply an idea gathered from a beautiful little book I am reading titled sevensacredpauses.

The night watch vigil (midnight until dawn) is one of the noted times for sacred pauses; a time to rise from sleep to wait in silence with purpose, patience, hope and love. I don't think I'd ever wake up like this on purpose, but when I can't sleep this different take on the situation has turned an annoying negative into one of humbled surrender and acceptance.

When my friend Angela showed me her photo of this harvested hayfield, taken on a recent foggy morn, I couldn't wait to get my fingers on a brush. The field seems to instinctively understand the mystery of deep listening, watching, and waiting patiently in faithful vigilance for the fog to lift and sun to reveal the new day.

Although I am by nature a morning person, this quote from Thomas Merton speaks volumes. "It is necessary for me to see the first point of light which begins to dawn. It is necessary to be present alone at the resurrection of Day, in the blank silence when the sun appears."
  

Thank you for celebrating a gift of ordinary life with me today.
nancy

© 2012 nancy parsons
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