Cozette's Cozy Restroom

GOD has a sense of humor, y'know? Of course, He's got a funny bone!
i've had this blog entry, GOD's Rest, ready for write-up for a few days now, but didn't yet have the photos to use for illustration. So today, after completing the artwork for Cozette's bathroom, i was given the go-ahead/insight to use her bathroom to decorate this entry. i thought it funny: GOD's Rest illustrated with Cozette's restroom!If you ever get to sit on Cozette's "throne," look for the butterfly with the Mickey Mouse ears. It's like playing Where's Waldo as you await nature's call.
Below is the other wall of Cozette's cozy restroom, a la rln Art.Cozette was very gracious in commissioning me to do her bathroom. The work was started with a heartfelt prayer the night before, petitioning for my Father's help -- that He would do the real work by granting me the necessary skill to paint the scene that would make Cozette happy enough so that she wouldn't have to roll her eyes up to a blank ceiling. (hahaha) After all, she would be the one sitting and meditating day in, day out, staring at whatever painting was staring back at her.

She had a look at The Wall done at Midway, which she liked, but minus the surfer kids and surfboards. Being a woman and a keen stylist, her color preferences matched her towels. Cozette had a vision of something beachy and sandy, with flowers and seashells. The finished work was an interesting mix of what she had in mind and my own very simple creative skills. My talent is this: i keep putting on the paint 'til it looks right! And when i'm artistically challenged, i just whisper, "O GOD, please help me!" And He always does.

There were no hidden messages or Bible verses in this work, and none of my work can ever illustrate Psalm 19's The heavens declare the glory of GOD, for i am not equipped to capture the amazing artistry of GOD's brushstrokes when He spoke Creation into being. There are gifted artists past and present who can copy a limited version of GOD's handiwork, but they are all but poor imitation of the real thing, for no one can ever re-create what GOD has already perfected. Who but the Perfect and Holy One is able to create perfection?

Heart Two Heart

The LORD is my Shepherd, i shall not lack. (Psalm 23:1)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

GOD is love...JESUS is The Way...i can do all things through CHRIST. (Truths i live by.)

Two intertwining hearts is how i sign my finished art. When that t-shirt, sulu/sarong, pants, door, or wall is done, and i sign off with the two connected hearts, i'm symbolizing that that person and i are connected too.

And with the above Heart Two Heart design, it can serve as a reminder to that person wearing the t-shirt that his/her heart and GOD's heart are connected In CHRIST. The Bible verses are powerful reminders of who that person is when born again into GOD's family...s/he is forever in the bosom of GOD Himself.

Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some insects, amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans, Cnidarians, echinoderms and tunicates undergo metamorphosis, which is usually (but not always) accompanied by a change of habitat or behavior.II Corinthians 5:17 says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

The Holy SPIRIT is even now growing the new creature that i became when i received CHRIST JESUS as Savior and accepted His sovereign rule in my new life. i may not look radically different from the outside, but i am conspicuously altered from the inside. Like the butterfly, i am changed from one to one other -- from one loving the ways of the world, to one loving the Way -- the Person of the only Way, JESUS Himself.

This metamorphosis is by grace...totally undeserved...a free but oh so costly gift from a merciful and loving GOD. This butterfly flies in the new found freedom of Truth and Life, but only because of the Person who gave me this Life within -- JESUS CHRIST.Old things have passed away...dead...finished. The symbolism on this surfboard is obvious, especially here, where the "o" is in the shape of the serpent, the "l" is one of the nails driven into CHRIST's flesh, and the "d" with the downward arrow represents the devil and hellfire.

This picture is the tombstone for that old nature, the one that i kill daily when i deny that self. And the more i feed my new nature with the Word, the True Bread, the more the new creature In CHRIST is strengthened and made alive.

May that old body of death grow feebler and just keel over already(!) as the new creature that i am, enabled and empowered by the Holy SPIRIT, grow more and more into the likeness of my Lord JESUS. Amen!

The WALL

At last, the full Wall! This Labor of Love started July 2, and i finally got to sign it August 29. When i sat in the shade that hot and muggy Saturday afternoon, taking a final look at this "baby" i "birthed," i thanked GOD for allowing me to accomplish His design. It was a privilege to do this work for Midway Baptist Church and i am deeply grateful for all the blessings that came with it.

Maybe not so much South Bay's "neck of the woods," but certainly my own mental picture of how i would like my "neck of the woods" to look like.

There's a message on this surfboard, too. It all depends how you interpret butterflies...and if it fits your understanding of II Corinthians 5:17 --

Therefore, if anyone [is] in Christ, [he is] a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.