Floral Bouquet

I received a bouquet of flowers...so here is my alla prima (wet-into-wet method quick method) try that is not yet finished. I have some more work to do on this so it is still a work in progress.

I don't know how I feel about this piece.

September Art

Gerber Daisy

Achievement ... is in all of us.

This young man, a few yards from the finish, is my son. He is about to complete a two year long life goal and is finishing a grueling 14 hour Iron Man course in Louisville, Kentucky (August 31, 2008).

Few friends or relatives have bothered to call to congratulate him. Why is that? .... when less than .1% of the population will ever achieved such a great test of endurance.

For those of you who might not know what an Iron Man course is like, in 14 hours, Darren swam a little over 2 miles in the Ohio River (half of which was against a swift current), completed a 112 mile very hilly bike ride, and ran 26.3 mile on an also hilly course in stifling heat and humidity. He did that sick and not at his physical best.

I understand human nature for with everyone who achieves a great goal, the rest of us are tempted to succumb to the feeling of smallness and insignificance?

In a world that operates with a "if you are up, then I am down" mentality, truly achieving anything great is a lonely pedestal upon which to stand.

To take that attitude is to miss the real glory of this moment for all humanity.

I love my children and they are very special to me; growing up, however, they were just ordinary kids with a mixture of strengths and weaknesses ... like the majority of us.

What is amazing to me and the great glory of this moment is that God is taking these two ordinary kids and working out extraordinary achievement in their lives. That is miraculous.

I knew that God took some really ordinary men and women in ages past and did glorious things through them. So we all have the capacity to do great things.

I am hoping Darren will blog his experience and that he will relate what a miracle of God's Grace was upon him to do the impossible. When he does, I will add a link and let him tell in his own words how the Apostle Paul's words became a revelation in his own life experience: "My grace is sufficient, says the Lord, in your weakness I am made strong."
Darren sent me the following ... which I thought was quite thought provoking too:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?"
Actually, who are you not to be?

We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some of us; it is in all of us, in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

~Nelson Mandela