Blessings by Texas Artist Laurie Pace

Watercolor Painting 1998 by Laurie Pace


John answered them, "I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize,
the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie."John 1:26

Blessings to you my friends.

Laurie

Preparing for the new year...Words of my heart, Texas Artist Laurie Pace

Blessed are those that fear the Lord and walk in his ways.  Psalm 128

As we close out this year we think of preparations in our life for the new year coming.  Ben Pace was always smiling greeting each new day. It did not take a new year to roll around.  Whistling, dancing, sharing jokes, playing his harmonica... it was always about sharing and giving to others.

I want to take this joy with me as I remember the legacy he left to us...

to live each day to the fullest and to remember that you could get glad just like you got mad.

Words of my heart, Laurie

A Texas Artist Laurie Pace

Welcome the Prince of Peace, Words of my Heart by Texas Artist Laurie Pace

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. 

They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.  1 John 2:9-11

Look to the morning light. Let if fill your heart and soul and then take that light with you this day and share it with others. Be confident as Jesus Christ was born and is our Prince of Peace.

Words of my heart, Laurie

A Texas Artist Laurie Pace

Tell your own story...Words of my heart by Texas Artist Laurie Pace

"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." 1 John 1:5-7

Some days you think you should not have even gotten out of bed. Things do not go the way you thought they should. Violence interrupts life when you are least prepared for it. Somehow life consists of pain and sorrow along with the joys and love.  Innocent people suffer and die. Today's violence and injustices seem immeasurable worse than in past generations.

What can you do to make changes in your story as your story will affect the story and lives of others.  It has to start in our hearts and our homes. Surrounding ourselves with others that care and believe and want to make a difference just enforces the good that can grow and flourish in one community, than one county, than one state and one nation.... One Nation Under God.

When I am teaching art to my students, I encourage them to tell their story in their own way through their artwork. No one produces the same story as we are all unique.  Where we are bound together is by our priorities, our compassion and our beliefs. 

Do you know what yours are?

Words of my Heart, Laurie

A Texas Artist Laurie Pace

Reflecting the Light, Words of my Heart by Texas Artist Laurie Pace

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.  Isaiah 9:2

The colors of Christmas now are colors of my own earthly Father. Streaming back in my heart are the memories of putting up the tree. Usually it was the two of us. He taught me how to put the lights inside the branches closer to the trunk. I squealed often as it was scratchy to stick my chubby arms in the pine needles...but I did it wanting to please him.  Then we had all the many years of collected ornaments out in their boxes on the couch. Smaller ones went higher up on the tree...where I could not reach, and the larger ones toward the bottom where I could reach.

Memory reminds me they were all very fragile and each had a bit of family history to them making me even more careful as I chose the next one to hang making sure it had a secure hanger and hook on it.

Once the ornaments were on the tree, hung just inside the outer fringes of the branches...it was time to hang the 'tinsel'. My adult children do not even remember the days of tinsel.  My Dad was the man to learn how to hang tinsel. It is done one tiny strand at a time.  The silver threads began reflecting the lights of the tree and brightening the room to a full warmth.

We are just like those ornaments and tinsel Dad.   Some of us are fragile and must be handled with care. Some of us are just a simple shiny strand of tinsel...nothing by itself, but once hung in the right place in life, we reflect the joy and brightness around us.  We need His light in our lives to shine and reflect out to the world. All of us come together in His light and make the season uniting together in Him.   Without Him, we are nothing. With His light... we are reflecting His light around the world.

Remember, lights go on first toward the inside of the tree...then the ornaments, ribbons and tinsel.

The last thing Dad always did was to set up the train under the tree with my older brother Bill. He still has that train today. It was Dad's train as a youngster. I am hoping that Bill has that thing chugging right along right now enjoying the sweet memory of Dad and celebrating the joy of this season.

Words of my heart, Laurie
A Texas Artist Laurie Pace

Let it shine...through you. Words of my Heart by Texas Artist Laurie Pace

“Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord. And this will be a sign for you:
you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:10-12

This is an ornament from a set my Mother made me back around 1975 when I had a tree to decorate with a baby in the house... they are plastic but with the paint she used, the lights shine through like stained glass... taking the lowly cheaper plastic and filling it with HIS light and turning it into a thing of beauty just like real stained glass.

His light can fill each of us with the same beauty no matter what we have or have not done in our lives. 

Words of my heart, Laurie
A Texas Artist Laurie Pace

Keep the flame burning...Words of my Heart A Texas Artist Laurie Pace

Keep the flame burning in your heart and live with joy in your life each day.

He gave us the gift of His Son;

 it is a gift to be kept with us at all times and used often.

Let your light shine filled with His love...

Laurie and Terry Pace