Easy Street!

Our 33rd Anniversary is in September. But I already have my present from my husband. At least fifteen years ago, we spotted "Easy Street," by Mary Regat in an art gallery. We were just walking through, browsing, enjoying the creativity of various artists. Then we saw the bronze mouse, about 4" tip to tail, cast in a limited edition of 250.

We never forgot it. The funny cheerfulness and sense of ease stuck with us, and brought back memories of a nice time together. We've talked about it over the years, and I wished a few times that we had been able to purchase it. It disappeared into various collections, and unbeknown to me, W had made inquiries over the past few years about finding one.

This week, a package arrived from Alaska. W was grinning as he asked, "Do you want your anniversary present now or later?" Now of course! The longer to enjoy it. When I opened it, I was staggered to see the mouse nestled inside paper shavings. Not one of the edition, but one of two artist proofs! One of the gallery owners had contacted Regat on W's behalf, and she sent it to us. Thanks, darling! And thank you, Mary.

It is delightful to be surrounded by art we love. Some of my favorites:

• "Inside Passage," by Norman Yates, our gift to each other for our 25th Anniversary, after a trip to the Fran Willis Gallery in Victoria, BC
• From art shows at Northwest U, a pastel by Casey Klahn, and a painting (3D: acrylic on canvas manipulated by steel) by Marianne Maksirisombat
• I love the monoprints I made in workshops with local artists Mona Fairbanks and April Richardson (who will have a print show at NU later this year)

I used to wonder if God revels more in the beauty of the universe or in the astonishing loveliness of a person living in full humanity and creative expression. This we can only do when utterly surrendered to pleasing him. I suspect he sings over us with great joy, more happy over his children than a perfectly calibrated solar system and the bursting colors of a rainbow.

Read more:*O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

 

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Psalm 8 NIV

*Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT

*But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 NLT