Hi Subscriber,
I don't remember if I made a Christmas card last year, but this year, I've had an idea on my mind for a while.
When I get an idea, it's usually very vague. It takes some sketching and trying different things to get to the right look and feel.
Then I try adding color of various tones, feeling my way toward the finish. The painting might go through quite a few changes before I am satisfied.
As I said, this year I've had an idea for a while. I've been playing around with it as I described for a month or so.
Of course, this isn't truly my idea. It's from the gospel book of Luke, in the bible, chapter two, where it talks about the shepherds.
They were the first to hear the good news that Jesus, the long expected Messiah who would take away the sin of the world, had been born.
But I don't think very many realized he was born to bear the penalty of sin. Most thought the Messiah would be a conquering king who would free them from the rule of Rome.
They didn't realize they needed freedom from the rule of fear, and being estranged from their Creator; that the root of all their woes was that estrangement. Even the most religious among them didn't get it.
But maybe the shepherds did? My painting for you this year is just a smidgeon of what I imagine it might have looked like.
I love that the first thing the angel said was "Don't be afraid!". Can you imagine what it must have been like, to have spent your life on the hills, day and night, tending sheep?
You would know what to expect each season, each day. It might even seem boring if you had other aspirations. Either way, you would just be out there on another night, like all the rest of the nights you'd done the same thing.
It would be dark. Quiet for the most part. Maybe you'd be pondering something that niggled at you all the time. It was dark, and that problem just didn't seem to have a solution.
Or maybe you were sleepy and having a hard time staying awake. It was so dark. Even the village of Bethlehem in the distance was probably dark.
THEN! Surrounded by intense light and someone speaking and loud praises and words you, you, a lowly shepherd, never expected to ever hear!
Can you imagine?
Maybe for us it would be like a hum drum drive to work on a day like all the other days we'd done this, when suddenly our car is filled with light and voices and we are surrounded by something out of this world.
Can you imagine?
