Becoming Holy

First of all, the world will tell you that you can't be holy in this life or while you are in this world. That is an outright lie. Take a look at what that kind of thinking has brought this world to. Chaos, distrust, violence, more lies and many other negatives we read about or see. Don't you realize that for two thousand years Christians have striven to be holy and have been criticized and persecuted for it? Being holy is not a measure of how many times you have fallen but of how many times you have gotten back up. THAT is when you have a holy moment. The holy times are those times when, despite the falls and/or sins, we pick ourselves back up and try to follow Christ. That time you donated to a family in need is a holy moment. The time you spent listening to someone in distress to help calm them down. That is a holy moment. Visiting a a senior citizen who has few or no visitors in a nursing home. That is a holy moment. If you believe the people that tell you you can't be a holy person that is a lie. We can do little things every day that are holy that will increase in number until it is normal to do holy things. The falls we experience in life are there to prevent you from the holy you were meant to become. If you believe your sins mean you cannot become holy then not even Paul was holy. He was a murderer. Paul was called to become holy by Christ just as we are called. (Acts 9:1-22 & Timothy 1:3) He became the greatest of the apostles for us. What makes you think you are any less capable? Just as Paul knew he was forgiven we are forgiven. Believe you are called and seek to have the holy moments. They will build until they come without thought and make you holy.

 

Today's image is fuchsia.  It comes from Digital Tuesday. They are gorgeous plants and flowers in hanging baskets. 

The Copic colors are: V08, V09, V15, V04, V20, YG09, G17, YR14, Y00

That is it for this week. May God bless and keep you always safe. Remember to always "Love The Details."

Mysteries

 

What is the mystery of Christ? What is the mystery in the gathering of believers? What is the mystery of being spiritual? Why is it important to bring these mysteries together as one? Look at Christ. He knew himself. He knew Abba, Yahweh Sabaoth. He knew He was one with His father and His Father with Him. His Spirit was one with His Father and the Holy Spirit was with Him. Christ merged his spirit with His father through the Holy Spirit and became one. Christ repeatedly went off to be alone in prayer. He communed with Yahweh spiritually. He then gathered His followers around Him and blessed them with what would become their spiritual training, a guide for their spirits to follow. How many of you attend church because it is the thing to do? What do you take away from the congregation and the teaching of the celebrant? Do you go back to the same old same old? Why??? Is there a discussion of the word afterwards? Do you only go because it is considered required? Why do you only attend during the Christmas and Easter services? Do you think this will make you holy or give you some religious exempt status or to make you appear  religious? The mysteries of believing, becoming and living are only mysteries for those who seek happiness in the things that are not permanent. They are of this world and will not satisfy for very long. Pleasures, ownerships, wealth to name a few of the things that are thought to bring happiness only satisfy for a time and then grow old and are forgotten. Happiness without a spiritual awakening is temporary and not fulfilling. The Brainy Quote above alludes to that spirit of awareness, of oneness, not of just the world around us but of the one who created it. It is closer than you think and being one with the spirit of God holds the key to permanent happiness and joy.

Today is another House Mouse image. I called this one "Too much Fitz Fizz". Obviously the little guy lying at the base of the lime bottle is quite full and experiencing some fizz results. Makes me uncomfortable thinking about it. Fun image to color.   

The Copic colors used are:

As with the last post I will let you figure out what colors went where since there were so many of them. 

Until the next post, may The Lord Bless and keep you safe. Remember to always "Love The Details."

The Voice of God

 

(1 Kings 19:11- 13) This is one of my favorite parts of the Bible. It cannot be taught nor realized without God first granting ears to hear. It is generally thought that God no longer speaks to His people. That is because it is becoming a belief that He does not exist. Do not expect God to shout in a loud earth shaking voice to get your attention. True, He could do that, and make you cower and shake in fear. The Israelites experienced exactly that. It frightened them to the point they said they no longer wanted to hear God's voice in that way. That would get your attention but it would not make you believe in His existence. Remember that "God is Love" (1 John 4:8-20 Another Favorite) and wants us to not only hear Him but love Him back. Fear is only good if it is because you are sinning and need to repent. To hear God means to listen to the whispers within your heart that tell you He is speaking to you. It is not an easy thing to learn to do but it is a critical thing to learn. No, it is not impossible. Christ gave us the Holy Spirit as an advocate. He is the spirit of God through Christ that is the voice of God. There are times when the Holy Spirit is forceful and times when His gentleness is hard to feel. There are even times when it feels He is not there. Rest assured He is always there. The critical thing to learn is that when you are busy with life you are less likely to hear God's voice. That is why Christ Always went off alone to pray. He needed to be still to hear His father talking to Him. Be still and contemplative. Quiet yourself. Allow the peace of the Holy Spirit to enter in and talk to your spirit. The quieter you become the more open you are. Learn to feel the love of our Triune God. Be still and that soft voice will enter in to hold you close and speak to you.

This and the next post will be new renditions of House Mouse images. This was fairly complex to color because of the detail. This image is of a pet Vet taking care of his patients. Cute!

There were a bunch of colors  used so I am not going to name where each one was used. Have fun figuring that part out.😊

The Copic colors are:

That will do it for this post. May the good Lord bless and keep everyone forever safe. Remember to always "Love The Details."

The Word

 Ephesians 1:9

When I was drawn into creating a blog back in 2014 I had no idea why I should consider such an enterprise. At that time the coloring skills I had were rough and there were few supplies to color with. My DW had been blogging for several years and asked me to help by coloring some of her stamped images to use in her card making. I said OK and from that time on I was hooked, fascinated with the idea of being a part of her joy of creating cards. Over time the craft supplies grew as did the tools to color the images and I even created a card or two. Eventually I was told I should create my own blog by several of her blogging friends but I saw no reason to do so since she already had one I could contribute to. Eventually I gave in and created the blog you now are reading. It was quite different from its present form because I devised an alter ego to use named Cherokee. My parents had often insisted our family had Native American ancestry. They never told me what nation or tribe that was from but I do believe them. They are long gone as are any of my family or relatives that would know such things. 

After several years of using the alter ego I felt guilty for the way I used Cherokee on the blog. He was retired soon after. The blog eventually evolved into the place of sharing it is today. The Lord does things in a strange way to our thinking but it is His way of bringing us together. I know there are many more visitors than commenters but that is ok. It is nice to know He is reaching many more ears than I could buy just sharing here at home. The Word is important to share. He has been so generous in so many ways. Sometimes we meet someone that is not what we expected ( poor, humble, quiet, hard to look at, dirty or some other unexpected feature ) but find ourselves captivated in the beauty of their simplicity and faith. I would hope that is the way you see this world and this blog. 

I will post a bit of artwork next month. Until then, remember to "Always Love The Details" and may God always Bless and keep you safe.

Sin

 Eskimo: 'If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?' Priest: 'No, not if you did not know.' Eskimo: 'Then why did you tell me?'

Annie Dillard 

 

Definitions of sin: (Webster's Dictionary)

1a: an offense against religious or moral law

b: an action that is or is felt to be highly reprehensibleit's a sin to waste food

c: an often serious shortcoming : FAULT

2a: transgression of the law of God

b: a vitiated state of human nature in which the self is estranged from God

Living this life without sinning is impossible. No matter what we think,  we are sinning each and every day. Every day is fraught with sin in some way in something we have done, failed to do, said or thought. If this were not so there would have been no need for Christ to die on the cross. The garden of Eden would be here and now, visible, our place of habitation. It is here but we are not able to see or experience it in this life. (more on that in a later post) I was attending a charismatic meeting many years ago where the celebrant minister was on this very subject. A woman behind me said that they did not have that problem. Unless she was an angel among us that could not have been a more fool's statement. That is like saying Christ did not need to be crucified for me. In fact, what reason would there have been for this person to be in attendance at a Christian gathering to praise someone that sacrificed themselves to forgive the sins that this person said they did not commit. There are enough ways to sin to keep us out of heaven without even trying. It seems we need only breathe to commit sin. It is why my favorite prayer is the Jesus prayer. Lord Jesus Christ, only son of our Father, have mercy on me, a sinner. This prayer is uttered many times a day whether I realize my sins or not. There are many forms of this prayer but I prefer the simplest, most direct form of it. Sin is personal. No one can commit my sin but me. Forgiveness is only possible through belief in Jesus Christ and a repentant heart. It is, however, up to us to forgive those that trespass against us. (The Lord's Prayer you say at "Mass" or church services, at a meal or before retiring at night) The hardest thing to do is to forgive one's self for the things we do to ourselves and others. It isn't whether we sin or not but whether we realize we need to forgive and be forgiven. It is a major part of the lesson we have to learn as we strive to understand what this life is all about.  

Of all the images I have done, the one I cherish most is the one below. It has been retouched to give it more depth and life. It is from Imagineanddo. Unfortunately the artist is no longer able to produce beauty like this due to to physical limitations. I will forever be thankful for her kindness and instructions on coloring images. 

The Copic colors are:

B0000, RV0000, RV000, YR0000, YR000, BG01, R01, E50, YR30

That is it for this week. May the good Lord hold you close and bless you always.