Further In, Higher Up

Readers of C.S. Lewis' Narnia Chronicles may recognise this phrase. At the end of time, Aslan encourages the children not to stay at the entrance to the new earth, but run further in and higher up. There are several other elements that went into this painting. I painted it not long after my bypass surgery so eternity was on my mind. We attended a church of very elderly people and I still remember how my mom suffered before she died and how my dad suffered before he died. I had taken a photo some years before of this burned out building between two other buildings and remembered it. A friend sent a photo of the Rift Valley in Africa. We had recently been on a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. I had a photo of an old woman tired from walking and finally I had a photo of my cousin turning to look at me as we were walking. All these thoughts and images are in this painting.

It seems like our bodies get like this old set of buildings as we grow old, yet our sense of self doesn't seem to age beyond about 35 years old. I see this old woman at the very gate of eternity reluctant to leave her broken down body. I see her self as she feels inside urging her to come, to step over the crumbled threshold of her life and enter the wide open spaces of what God has prepared for her just beyond. Then once over, there is the wonderful verdant valley below, but that's not where she should be content to stay. Ever higher climbs the gift of God beckoning us into His presence, which is the best of all. This is in my head all the time, I think and you know what? This future is already prepared for people who believe God's testimony about his Son, Jesus. We have it already, but not yet. It feels like waiting for Christmas!