Envelope Lesson #3 Risk Taking

copyrighted art by Sandi Baron

Envelope Lesson #3 Risk Taking

      Palm trees are such beautiful creations. Each simplistic frond creates a flowing elegant branch. The movement in the branches produces gentle breezes giving comfort on the hottest day. Each part works for the good of the whole universe. The coconut palm produces sweet milk and wonderful tasting fruit. This tree has beauty and fruitfulness. Now, why am I belaboring the description and purpose of palm trees? Because I am trying to paint them, I study them intently. While I am painting the branches , I take some risk. I include colors that my husband doesn’t see. I risk taking God made beauty and interpreting the orange of the sun’s reflections .

     Each painting flows and suddenly gets stuck. It is a collection of smears, misplaced brush strokes, and even colors that do not enhance each other if I jump the color wheel too quickly. Isn’t that like our lives? We begin with a vision, a goal, a hope, or an idea. We take the risk to paint the living room four colors of green, make a rug into a wall hanging, or throw whatever is in the refrigerator together and call it dinner. We start a diet, an exercise program, a spiritual study. We sometimes don’t tell anyone because we know there is a risk , and we don’t want to come up looking incomplete or worse yet, unsuccessful. We sometimes take life-long risks like choosing a marriage partner, starting a family, rescuing a pet, or beginning a career. Each of these are chances we take in life.

      I think these choices give me assurance that I can take the most awkward stage of my painting and turn it into something appealing. I enjoy learning how painting mimics life. The creation process is bittersweet sometimes because I must endure frustration to reach success . Isn’t that just like this life journey? Go ahead, take a risk and move forward today

Tree Timing

Tree Timing

God’s trees have been my refuse and my help since I was a small child. I remember sitting under a palm tree and talking to God.  He was my friend, and I talked to Him daily.  I would seek refuge from soft rains under the palm branches and feel so safe.

When I was seventeen, I had no money to go to college.  My parents were getting a divorce and had not saved or predicted I would go to college.  I was the first person of many cousins and relatives that decided go to a university.  Since my parents were selling our home and land, I asked if I could have five walnut trees cut before they put the land for sale.  Those five walnuts trees provided my first tuition deposit.  God provided the next four years.  That is another story for another time.  So, again,trees made provisions for me.

Today I still see trees as living creatures that give continually.  They give shelter to the hot and weary.  They bear fruit for all to eat.  I see oranges and grapefruit on trees and realize how generous each tree is.  Sweet cherries in Michigan bring many smiles to children’s faces.  Trees hold fame positions especially in the garden of Eden.  We all wonder what   kind of fruit could have been so tempting.

When we was rearing our sons, I used to claim they would grow as strong as the cedar trees of Lebanon.  Scriptures always referred to their strength, and when I saw them I knew why.  They are strong, resilient, magnificent trees.  I still claim that growth for our sons emotionally, physically, and spiritually.  

Trees are an integral part of my life.  I marvel at their spring beauty lit with dainty pink and white blossoms.  Those trees bring hope of warmer weather. I cherish old trees that have housed our children’s playhouses over thirty years ago.  I pray that I may be like a” tree planted by the water” as stated in Ps. 1:3.  I thank God for His gift of trees.  They show favor to humanity as does He.