Infinity Well of Hope
“Hope is only as enduring as the well from which it’s drawn.” ~ Nanci Stoeffler
Sometimes I post a picture of one of my paintings on social media and ask for title suggestions. I've found this is a fun way to engage people to process their own feelings/perception about art, but it also helps me to understand what people see in or feel about my paintings.
In December of 2017, I posted this painting on social media and asked for help giving it a title. I got over 80 responses and they were various! Most people saw water of many types: ripples, swimming upwards, diving inwards, a well, whirlpool, reflections, immersed; also subjects of depth, drawing towards, falling, vortex...the list goes on!
But my heart was most touched by a post from Cheryl, an old college acquaintance, who said:
"So today I lost my momma, and I saw your painting shortly after she passed, and I thought - HOPE."
Wow. I was so humbled and grateful that a painting of mine gave hope to her grieving heart in the midst of losing her mom. So, I knew I had to have 'hope' as a part of the final title which is Infinity Well of Hope.
While my painting is not “the” source of hope, it is indeed “a” source. I consider it as mere “breadcrumbs” of hope coming from the One who IS Hope, and that is Jesus Christ. We can have hope in ourselves, in people, a bank account, a religion, government, a job etc. to get us out of any ‘fix’ we might be in. They may have a form of hope, but it is not an infinite supply which will indeed run out. Everything that is not God himself have a limit because nothing was created to have a capacity for limitlessness.
As I have journeyed this earth, I have uncovered my own longing for a source of hope which is indeed infinite; limitless. Our Creator formed each of us with a need for hope, yet He also provided The Source of Hope to be found through His Son, Jesus Christ. This hope is for salvation through Him from death to life, but also to walk with Him in a lifestyle of drinking from a well of hope that is infinite, abundant, and spiritually thirst-quenching.
“Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this (earthly well) water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4: 13-14
