Jars of Tears

It's been so long since I last posted on here that I had almost forgotten how to do upload piccies! Woops! ;o) Well, I could bore you readers (if I have any left after such a lengthy lapse) with reasons for the lack of blogging but I shall spare you that!

Here is a painting that I did a few months ago inspired by Psalm 56 verse 8 'You have stored my tears in bottles and counted each of them.' (Contemporary English Bible).

I love the thought of God caring for us so much that he has collected & counted every single tear that anyone who ever lived has have ever shed! Wow!

When I was doing a little research into the bible verse before I began my painting I discovered that in the Middle east in biblical times it was customary for wives of soldiers to have a special jar for them to cry into throughout the time that their husband or loved one was away fighting. The amount of tears collected in the bottle upon the soldier's return home signified how much he had been missed! I even found some photos on the internet of tear jars from Lebanon dating from bible times- beautiful, delicate glass bottles!
Psalm 56:8 has been a special verse to me since my teenage years. As time has progressed it has remained significant to me. The bottles in my painting are taken from my art college sketches of ceramic pots that I made as part of my degree & those that I studied in the Victoria & Albert museum in London. The jars are full of all kinds of tears- every day tears (in the jam jar!), special occasion tears, tears of sadness, tears of pain & frustration, happy tears.... in fact, any kind of tear!

A few years ago I read 'The Shack' by William Paul Young. I found it very emotional, inspiring & encouraging. This little excerpt really stood out for me. If you haven't read the book, this extract is taken from the part where Mackenzie has just arrived at the shack hoping to find his kidnapped daughter but instead is met by three characters representing God the trinity;

"The large black woman gathered his coat and he handed her the gun, which she took from him with two fingers as if it was contaminated. Just as she turned to enter the cabin, a small, distinctively Asian woman emerged from behind her. 'Here, let me take those,' her voice sang. Obviously, she had not meant the coat or the gun, but something else, and she was in front of him in a blink of an eye. He stiffened as he felt something sweep gently across his cheek. Without moving, he looked down and could see that she was busy with a fragile crystal bottle and a small brush, like those he has seen Nan and Kate use for makeup, gently removing something from his face.

Before he could ask, she smiled and whispered, 'Mackenzie, we all have things we value enough to collect, don't we?' His little tin box flashed through his mind. 'I collect tears.' (The Shack page 84).

Just today, I have displayed this painting in the prayer room at our church as part of the Easter Garden that I have created. You can see photos here although the website is yet to be updated with the photos of the painting, the rain drops & the fabric waterfall I added in there today. They will come soon! And also while you are taking a peek at the church website you may also wish to look here at what I created in the prayer room during Advent too! I've been a busy arty bee of late haven't I?

Well, that is all I have to write for the time being! I hope that this post gives you some interesting things to ponder. Thankyou to all my faithful friends who have kept checking the blog to see if I have updated it yet! I really appreciate it & hope you haven't been as annoyed with the lack of updates as I have been!! LOL!! And I hope you are all well!

PS One of the reasons for the delay in blogging was that we have changed our computer. Since the change over we have not yet been able to locate the disks to install my photo editing software. The bonus of this is that if you click on the pictures of my paintings you can view them REALLY big as I haven't been able to make them smaller! Enjoy! :o)