Whatsoever Things are Lovely
Strength of Woman Series, Vol. VIII

​Copyright Ellen H. Rice, Ocean View, Delaware, 2017. All rights reserved.
30" x 48" oil on canvas
by Ellen Rice

Still in progress
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​…. whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are noble, whatsoever things are right, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think on these things... and the God of peace will be with you.”

Whatsoever Things are Lovely

by Ellen Rice

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​We walk through life with our eyes opened or shut, with our eyes focused on the positive or the negative.
 
If we watch the news or read online about world events, it’s all too easy to fall into the trap of seeing more negative than good.
 
I worked for one of the most award winning weekly newspapers in this country for many years and did constant battle with my publisher about the paper’s focus on tragedies. The front page almost always had a car accident, a home destroyed by fire or some other tragic event at the top of the front page.
 
When I suggested it would be better for the community if the focus turned toward the student who just got national recognition, the doctor whose work is saving lives, the law student who just passed his bars, etc., a graph would be pulled out showing the spike in newsstand sales every time a tragic event was on the front page. Paper sales meant increased ad revenue. Unfortunately no one had ever made a graph to show the sales if a “Happy” event went at the top of the front page.
 
A weekly paper is a small cry from the avalanche of news that comes at us today, but the motives behind what gets focused on are the same. Money. It’s huge business.
 
Do we get a clear picture of reality from watching and reading what’s laid out before us? How do you think all of this negativity affects us?
 
If your eyes are turned toward darkness, can you see the light?
 
There came a point in my life where I became very ill. At the time I was newly committed to resolving negatives in my life, including my illness, through prayer. I struggled. I read about every religion known to man, delved into a Bible encyclopedia, questioned ministers of different faiths, studied the Bible in different translations.

One day while reading a passage in the Bible, I realized how my focus over the years had changed from that of a child seeing beauty and innocence all around me to a woman wary of all the pitfalls of the world, focused on brown leaves on trees rather than the abundance of green, cracks in pavement rather than an easy pathway, the boogieman I was taught about as a child, on and on.
 
The Bible passage said you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven except as a little child, which dawned on meaning thinking with the innocence of a child. At that moment I began to consciously turn my thought to a deeper reality, the presence of infinite goodness, love everywhere.

As I did this, the beauty of the world around me returned. The body of my thought and my physical body healed.
 
I was pondering this in prayer about a year ago when I saw the vision of this painting. No, everything isn’t flowery in our lives, but we can chose where our focus lies and when we choose what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable and praiseworthy it affects our actions and through those actions, our path, the people and the world around us.
 
While focusing on “whatsoever is lovely” as this painting illustrates, we leave a trail of goodness in our wake.
 
I hope this painting blesses you, those in your life, those in their lives and throughout the world around us.
 
Ellen
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