Sunshine in Shadow

This is a picture Joni painted. Maybe you didn’t know, but Joni paints by putting a paintbrush in her mouth. What do you see in this picture? A horse, of course! And what colors are in the painting? If you said green, yellow, and white, you’re right! But take another look. Are there parts of the horse that you can see better than another part? The horse’s front hooves are hiding in the grass and yellow flowers. Its tail is blowing in the wind and you can’t quite be sure where all of the hair in its tail is. Now look at the horse’s neck. Do you see how that one side of the horse is very clear? This is one of Joni’s favorite parts of a horse, and she wanted to make sure people could see how beautiful a horse’s neck is. So can you guess what she did? She used a little bit of purple paint right up against the horse! Because of the yellow and green, the purple makes our eyes notice that part a lot more. Pretty cool, right? It’s called contrast. Joni uses this idea of contrast in other things, too. She wants everyone who sees her to know about God’s love, so she puts God’s love and grace right up against the hard things in her life. That way, when people think about how she can’t use her arms and legs, instead of feeling sad for her, they notice God a whole lot more!