Dark Edges

I love how God uses even the simplest things to teach us when we abide in Him. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in pursuing Him, or seeking a word that we miss the still small voice He loves to use. Before the fall, the Garden of Eden wasn’t a place to work but a place to dwell with God.

“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭3‬:‭8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

They heard the sound and recognized what it was which means they had heard it before. When we take time to abide with Him it delights His heart. Sometimes the most profound things He speaks to us is in the middle of doing something simple and perhaps not particularly “spiritual “.

The other night I was having a hard time sleeping, it happens pretty often due to the chemo treatments so rather than lay in bed frustrated I get up to paint. I have to admit I am usually pretty groggy despite not being able to sleep so my brain isn’t always focused on being deeply spiritual in these sessions. Regardless, it’s in these quiet moments when I most often hear God. The other night as I worked on a painting that has been on my easel for a week or so I heard the phrase dark edges. I knew I would struggle to remember much about that session due to the evening meds I have so I grabbed my phone and typed the phrase into my notes application. I went on working on the painting and I felt His presence as I slowly added more and more detail. After a couple hours I washed up my brushes and went back to bed.

The next day I remembered and looked at the phrase on my notes and began asking God what it meant. He led me back to my easel and as I sat and stared at it I realized that as I began this painting I started with all the small pieces that consisted of lighter colors, white, light grey, shades of yellow etc. so despite completing many portions of the painting when I looked at it over the period of time I worked on it the image still seemed very disconnected and basically undefined.

The night He spoke the phrase dark edges to me I had begun to color in some of the darker colors, browns, dark grey, black etc. and suddenly the image began to spring to life on the canvas. So I asked God what He was trying to show me and He said, “It’s easy to see the point of an image when using dark colors but it’s the middle and light range colors where you can easily miss the point of what I am showing you.” He then went on to show me that we often approach life in the opposite perspective, we look to the bright colors, the joys, blessings, achievements etc for our sense of His love and while those colors are bold and fun without the dark edges we experience in life they don’t pull together to convey the image of His love that He wants to give us. You see it is only in the darkness that we can appreciate the light. It is only by pressing through dark times that we can be lead by His love and be transformed into His image. So celebrate the light but realize it is the dark edges that define our understanding of His love.