Joy Comes In The Morning

I started working on this mandala a couple of weeks ago, then put it aside. I found it and began working on it again this week. I thought it significant that I finish it here on the last day of 2009.

This has been a particularly hard year for some people I know. Yet, it seems to be ending on an "up" for some of us. Myself, I've had a long season of "night" for a while now, especially spiritually, but the night seems to have given way to the dawn, and my way seems clearer again. And for others who I love, the season of struggle seems to have subsided, and there seems to be a "newness" in the air.

There is a beautiful verse in Psalm 30 that tells us weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Perhaps the season of weeping has passed for now. And joy is just peeking over the horizon, with the dawn.

There's another verse that I particularly love: Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18-19

So, with this mandala, my last painting of 2009, I believe in the new thing. I believe joy is coming for those who have been weeping. I believe a way is being made. All things are being made new, fresh, green, alive.

I'm ready--I'm ready for myself, and I'm ready for my loved ones. And I'm ready for you, too. 2010 will be here in just a few hours. This will be our joy year. I feel it.

Happy New Year!