Be Still

The need to be constantly productive and moving forward is a natural outgrowth of an achievement-oriented society, and that value system has dominated most of my life. I pushed myself through high school, college, and the first five years of my professional art career, ignoring and putting aside my body’s pleas for mercy. By my mid-twenties, I was in constant, excruciating pain. At 27, I was diagnosed with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a genetic connective tissue disorder, and my body had finally had enough. I was forced to stop striving, to finally listen to the pain and fatigue, and in so doing, to realize that the Holy Spirit has been at work in the world, without my help, the entire time.

Be Still reflected the unexpected peace that grows from releasing oneself from expectations and accepting one’s own place as a creature within creation. The strokes create a sensation of motion, as of the Holy Spirit rushing by, while green and vibrant shocks of red imitate the lushness of growth. Through it all, serene blues allow us to sink into the scene, to breathe, and to know that every difficult time exists within and beneath the sovereignty of a loving Creator.