THE ROAD TO LIFE

This painting began with very different intentions. I spent much of the summer sketching, observing, and allowing myself to simply be present. There was less pressure to produce and more room to wonder, to notice colour, to study nature, and to let ideas unfold without rushing them. Looking back, I think this painting carries the fruit of that slower season. "The Road to Life" isn't a real place. It's a symbolic landscape, one that speaks of the winding road we all travel. There are gentle hills and dark valleys, unexpected turns, and moments where it feels as though we're making little progress. Yet there is beauty woven throughout the journey. As I painted, I found myself returning to Ecclesiastes 3:11: "He has made everything beautiful in its time." Those words have stayed with me for many years, but this time it was the second half of the verse that settled deeply in my heart: "He has also set eternity in the human heart." That thought changed something in me. I realized how often I measure my work against time, how many years I have left, how much I should accomplish, what I still hope to create. But eternity has a way of lifting those pressures. It reminds me that this journey isn't about racing toward an end, but about faithfully walking the road the Lord has placed before me. This painting became a reminder to trust the turns, to embrace the seasons, and to believe that even when the path disappears around the bend, He is still making something beautiful.