AND THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT OF ALL IS TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER

When I reflect on the greatest commandment by Jesus before he left the earth to take His place next to His Father on the throne, I often wondered about the ten other ones that God gave to Moses in the old testament.

What of those commandments, then?  Were they insignificant now?  Then I picked each and every one of the apart to see how they relate to the one general umbrella of loving one another. My conclusion was, no, not really.  If we take each of the ten commandments, they ALL lead under the scope of the one that Jesus said was the greatest and most important commandment of loving each other. 

When we love each other, there would not have to be any killing, stealing, adultery, jealousy, envy, etc. etc. etc.  Parents would be honored, God would be honored!  There would be no idolatry, such as loving money over God.  We would become childlike in our trust for each other.  

But the most important lesson that we have learned from Jesus' agape love for all humankind was sacrificing His own life for our transgressions.  You cannot find one other human being who would do that today.  The moral and social decay of our world today leads to the most important person... "ME"  This is the ME generation.  True love is not a normality anymore, but skewed love is.  We are no longer keen on our observation with our hearts as to what true love really is, even though Jesus teaches us everyday that compassion is paramount. After all, we are the heirs to His own manifestation of TRUE LOVE.

So when Jesus commands us to Love one another, He doesn't expect us to become doormats for others but rather a true example of the kind of love that He humbled himself down even though He had the power to punish.  We are only expected to practice everyday and act on love everywhere we go with everyone we meet.  This way, we are representing His love even in our most basic and simple humanly way.

Until my next rant.... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

DIGITAL SUPERIMPOSITION

 

Oh just playing around!  Superimposed my son and my grandchild's photos into a zentangle I just finished using iPhoto.

Hope you like it and are inspired by the technique!  Have fun! 

SOMEONE WHO'LL WATCH OVER ME

 

It hurts to be alone, to feel alone, even when people are around.  At one point or another, you have felt this way, we all have.  There is no way to describe it.  There are times when I feel I don't have a friend... in the human race, that is.

I could "woe is me" all day long, dance and sing alone in my pity party but even though my heart feels like sinking, it doesn't sink deep enough for me to say that there is no relief.

God is there, Jesus is there, The Holy Spirit is there always at your beck and call, humble, ready and able to guide you through the darkness, knowing that you are going where you were planned to go anyway.  There is no use fighting it, when you do, you just stumble and feel even worse than you do now.  God knows your pain, God knows what to do but He won't impose Himself on you, no, He is a much more respectful God than to do that.  You have to seek Him, call on Him!

I often marvel at the wonderful, awesome, God that He is, so humble, even when we are not worthy, because He is God, His love is unconditional... Agape Love, something no other human on earth is capable of giving, only God!  You may think, "who am I that someone so powerful, wonderful, awesome, glorious person could love?" My answer to you is, EXACTLY!

It's hard to do that to just anybody, right?  Imagine trying to love your enemy, someone who has done you wrong, someone who had betrayed you, someone who put you down until you are reduced to nothing in your own mind!  It's hard isn't it?  Yet, that's how God loves you!  It's unfathomable, but yet, it's true.

So the next time you're down on yourself, feeling lonely and unloved, just stop! and feel God's love surrounding you, it's a given, whether you welcome it in your life or not, He's there for you, someone who cares endlessly watching over you.  Accept it, accept Jesus in your life, right there, right now where you sit, stand or lay.  It's a life-changer, an AHA! moment.

If you are ready to do that, close your eyes, say the words and mean them... Jesus, I have sinned against you, I come to your right now humbled, asking you to forgive me for my sins.  You have died for me and by your blood I am cleansed, this is your promise to me.  I humbly come to you with heart wide open, come into my life, come into my heart and guide me towards your perfect will, towards your perfect plan for me.  I ask this in Jesus' name.  Amen.  You are now born again. Get baptized with water and read your bible everyday, seek God through His own words.  Make the life change! 

See you next time!

Until my next rant.... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

POPPIES ARE PRETTY SPECIAL

Pen and watercolor Art Journaling

Poppies are beautiful flowers symbolic of death, life and remembrance.  Poppies can lay dormant for years and have the ability to resurface in huge numbers.  After the war left hundred of soldiers laying dead in the field, red poppies surfaced, thus the history of its symbolism.

Much like the poppies, our lives on earth symbolizes the same.  In the sorrow of death, our loved ones remembers us only through happy times.  We live in their hearts forever and the beauty of what we are remembered about is what lives.  Maybe we have touched certain people in different ways.

But to dig further, when Jesus left us to go back home to our Father in heaven, He left us a remembrance like a poppy, but in the form of a guide, to be with us in remembrance of Him and what He stood for.   Unlike the poppy which will eventually die, the Holy Spirit lives and thrives inside of us, constantly guiding us through life to remember that Jesus is ever present in our hearts and in our lives. 

So whenever you see a poppy, make it remind you of the Holy Spirit who lives in you in remembrance of the greatest Man who ever lived!

Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

BEING FEATURED IN THE MIXED MEDIA ART MAGAZINE

It feels pretty special and exciting to be featured in this magazine.   Get your digital copy! MIXED MEDIA ART MAGAZINE

It is an interactive magazine with chock full of unique techniques and videos.  Very reasonably priced! You can access it on your Newstand app on iTunes.  

Here are the pages on my feature:

FRUSTRATION RELIEF

Watercolor and ink pen

What do you do when you're stressed?  Do you binge eat?  Do you scream into a pillow?  Do you reorganize your closet?

I wish I could do all those things, but eating will make me gain weight (oh you don't even know!),  I have hypothyroidism, so I'm screwed anyway!  I could scream into a pillow but who would hear me? Except for me and a sore throat later.  I could reorganize my closet but what's the use?  I am moving soon.  That's just it, there are things on this earth that is beyond our control more often than not.  We have no control over how people act, what they say, how they treat us, whether it is aggressively or the more dangerous one, passive aggressively.  It's frustrating!  

If we don't have an outlet for these situations, issues, problems, or whatever you wanna call it, we will go pretty much insane trying to find a door to walk out of and slam behind us.

One way you can do so is to express yourself through art.  It doesn't really matter if you can draw or not, art journaling using even cut outs from magazines, and your own words can really give you an expression relief.  You somehow need to let it out, and I believe that this is the most non-violent, non-agressive way to do it.

Last night for me was frustrating, but instead of drawing something as dark as how I felt, I forced myself to draw and paint something bright and cheery in my art journal.  

When I was done, guess what?  I was able to release those negative feelings and ended up with something that made me feel bright, sustained and beautiful such as this flower.  At the end, I called it my frustration flower!

Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

LIBERATION IS LOVE

 

just wanted to share

3 HEARTS, MULTIPLE BRAINS

I liken sometimes myself to an octopus only because I juggle a myriad of things crammed in one day… day by day.  In this world that is spinning at lightning speed these days, I don’t think that I am alone.

But unlike the octopus, where each of its tentacles has a brain of their own, I possess only one.  And unlike the octopus who has three hearts, I only have one.  But what makes humans more powerful than any other creature on earth, despite their intrinsic and complex characteristics, we were shaped and formed in the image of God.

Unlike the octopus, humans are especially favored by God.  Every other living thing was fashioned for our benefit.  Every spin of the eco system’s well thought out synchronicity was done so that our lives would be lived comfortably in God's plan.  He already took care of us from the gate. 

The only thing that ruins us is the desires of the flesh.  Admittedly, it is a hard fight because coupled with free will it becomes a concoction fit to either do us good for our eternal benefit or in the alternative,  for our eternal demise.  It’s not like God is not readily available for us.  What we humans don’t sometimes understand because of our intricate but limited ability to comprehend is that God is multi-dimensional.  You can submit that life on earth is three dimensional, but I submit to you that because God’s power is unlimited, we cannot limit our understanding of God as three dimensional as well.  Just by the fact that He is omnipresent (ever present) and omnipotent (with unlimited power), goes to show that he could be with each and every one of us at any given time.  I believe this because of how I feel when I really want to feel His presence.  But that is the operative word “want” and that will pretty much be the only time we could ever feel Him if we have a genuine “want” for Him to be, not just for show, or for effect, but a genuine want.  Then and only then can we develop that deep relationship with God.  I hope you’ve tried it in your life and/or is already in effect.

So no matter how many brains an octopus can have in any of its eight tentacles, our one brain, our one heart, our one God can overpower an octopus or any other unknown creatures, whether it is in our three dimensional world or the multidimensional world in which our brains cannot even begin to fathom.

Until my next rant… LOVE ONE ANOTHER!