Light-Bearers

Light.  

It’s a word that often comes to mind this time of year.

Christmas tree lights, shopping mall lights, houses lined in lights, and candlelight. All in celebration of the real light... the one who called himself, “the Light of the World.”

We like the way The Voice translation conveys the meaning of this expression, the light of the world:

 "Jesus: I am the light that shines through the cosmos; if you walk with me, you will thrive in nourishing light that gives life and will not know darkness.”  John 8:12

Amazing.  We can thrive in nourishing light.  
In light that gives life.  Just by walking with Him.

That’s all he invites us to do here … to walk with Him.  
The Light of the World.

This walking with the Light of the World will transform us….really make us into something quite different…a new creation, a new species of being, a child of the Light…with His light shining bright out of our ordinary, everyday lives.  

Jesus knew this kind of luminous transformation would occur within us, as we began to walk with Him. He talked about it with his closest friends, and said words like this, to all who would reach out, take His hand, and walk with Him:

“You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world.  God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill.  If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you?  I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand---shine!  Keep open house; be generous with your lives.  By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.”  Matthew 5:14

So, go ahead, light up all the lights in the house this Christmas.  And as they twinkle and sparkle, may they remind you to walk with the Light of the World, and become the light-bearers He so wants us to be in this world.  Light-bearers who bring out beautiful God-colors as they shine on the hill.

Letting our light shine,

The Velvet Lime Girls 

P.S. Thank-you James, for the inspiration you bring to us with your soft pastel artwork that lights up our studio with light-bearing, beautiful God-colors.

Fragrant Gifts

A season of giving is about to be ushered in as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our Immanuel, our "God with us". We've been thinking a lot about giving and gifts in the Velvet Lime Girls studio. Quite often, the most memorable and treasured gifts are the ones given fully from the heart. Gifts like the one Mary Magdalene gave Jesus, a pint of pure nard in an alabaster jar. Nard was an expensive, lavish, aromatic perfume and many scholars believe this may have actually been an essence of lavender. The Bible records it would have taken a year's salary to pay for the amount of precious ointment given by Mary to Jesus. It was an extravagant gift, poured straight from her heart, filling the senses of all those present, and continuing to touch people today, whenever the story is retold. We've wondered if this gift came from a field of lavender as vast, as beautiful, as costly as the one pictured here, a never-ending field of fragrance. The heady aroma from this lavender field seems to waft off the paper and into our hearts, reminding us of just how beautiful a gift is when it is given from the heart.

We'd like to thank James, our "Platinum Advisor", for bringing this inspiration to us. He picked up his crayons again after 40+ years, and with soft pastels created this fragrant work of art, and we've just been inhaling the inspiration it brings to our souls. The artwork sits on an easel in our studio, it is a work still in progress, but we wanted to share its fragrance, it's reminder to all of us in this season.. that gifts given from the heart last forever.

"Then Mary took about a pint of nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped His feet with her hair.  And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume."  John 12:3

Learning to give from our hearts,

The Velvet Lime Girls