Original Art by Uncle Sam

Blessed is the one

    who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take

    or sit in the company of mockers,

2 

but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,

    and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,

    which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither—

    whatever they do prospers.

Psalm 1: 1-3

Recently I posted about a painting that I have that is a treasure to me.  

It is an original piece painted when the artist, my Uncle Sam, was very young, as I remember being told.  

Ma-maw had two similar paintings that hung her hallway in the home I remember her and Pa-Paw living in when I was a kid.  I can remember, even now, standing there looking at the paintings and marveling how talented my Uncle Sam had been to have painted these masterpieces.  I am not sure how old he was when he painted them, a teenager maybe, and he was a couple years older than my mother.  

All grown up and years later, after a lot of life... some good, some really good and some not so good, as is the tale told by most families...My aunt gave me a painting done by my Uncle Sam. 

He is gone now and I am sad that he never got to know our boys or that our boys got to know him.  He was talented and creative and they would have appreciated that being creative and talented themselves....

The frame it was in was plain and brown making the painting seem not as significant as it really is.  The other day, a cold early spring day, I decided to paint the frame. 

For all the time that I have been in possession of this painting, I have not known where to hang it.  I have moved it around several times, never having the perfect spot to display it in.  

So I decided to hang it near our recliner and table where I have some devotional books and a lamp... ready for a moment of quiet and peace with the ONE who is our PEACE.

It "fits". And this is what came to my mind as I re-hung this painting.  Even when I was but a little girl, the Lord was drawing me toward images of Oak Trees and Water.  This painting draws me in to think about the cool water flowing by the huge oak tree and I wonder what sounds the birds are making in the trees, if only I could sit under the shade of this tree and listen...

And HE says to me,

Blessed is the one who...delights in my Word... They shall be like a tree planted by the water...

Thank you Lord for Your Grace that Precedes my need.  

Love that can never fail.  You are Good.   

The Word. Worship. Prayer.

These are my Roots.