Tuesday, June 26, 2018

"Feeling Blessed", 11x14, oil on panel, blessings, light and shadow, impressionist paintings, floral arrangements in paint, Greg McLogan, James1:17, Maryanne Jacobsen art

"Feeling Blessed", 11x14, oil on panel

The painting above is a self-portrait of sorts in that I have often looked back over my life and considered my many blessings. Some people have said I live a charmed life. Others declare that I am fortunate, or lucky. So what's the difference between being lucky and being blessed?

Below, I quote the words of author/writer Greg McLogan from his blog "Simple and Deep" because he has summed up this simple truth in a way that I myself could not articulate.

"I have learned that there is a huge difference between thinking and saying I’m just lucky or believing I am blessed. It lies in the difference in the mindset and heart of being one or the other. Being lucky is the idea that by chance, something in the universe made a situation go in your favor. Being blessed is attributing a given situation to the goodness of God or another person. I keep myself in the mindset of being blessed, because I know that things happen a reason, rather than the mindset that things happen by random chance. So to be a Christian, is to believe that there’s no such thing as luck. Saying it was luck or attributing everything to luck denies that God is in control. The credit for everything good that happens to us is God’s. There’s no such thing as luck, because God is alive and well. He cares about us, and wants to be involved in every area of our lives."- Greg McLogan
Finally, I love this quote from the Bible reminding us that every good thing comes down from the Father Of Lights above: Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.- James1:17

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