Eight Nights of Lights 2011 - Night 8 - Penance

Tonight's topic is Penance - thinking reflectively about your life's path--and what changes you might want to enact. 

Penance is defined as a feeling of regret for one's wrongdoings. 

The Psalms tell us "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."  And only as I have aged have I learned the true meaning of that statement.  It is only as I study scripture that my path is illuminated.


Tonight's video is so much fun.  I'm showing you such a simple easy way to make gorgeous tapers!

Kathy was here today and we hung a hat rack on the wall for the tapers.  I think it looks great under this oil painting of the Western Wall that mom did back in 1985.

These are full 12" purple tapers

These are the pink - full and the creme 6" tapers that I made in the video

The glitter isn't photographing very well....but they are completely covered.

Pink glitter over pink wax

Now, for this last pair I did an interesting experiment. That broken brown beeswax in the video....I used it to cover a pair of candles and then poured turquoise glitter over the brown wax.  They came out looking more like a pine color - but they sure are beautiful!!!  It took a 3" wide strip of beeswax to go around the candles.  I melted it very soft.  Worked great!

Every year, on the last night, I share my favorite Hanukkah song.  In Exodus, it indicates that there were about 3 million Israelites who left Egypt. And it tells us that they sang a song unto Jehovah. They sang in unison.  Without knowing ahead of time - the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit ever!  Now, can you fathom a choir of 3 million people singing in the desert?  I went to the desert in Israel.  And I sang this song while I was there.



Make my life Your temple
L-rd at this season start
To pull down every idol I have raised up in my heart

On this Chanukah
On this Feast of Dedication
I dedicate myself to You

Take my defiled altar
Come and cleanse and come repair
So every time I falter I can run to meet you there

On this Chanukah
On this Feast of Dedication
I dedicate myself to You

And with every candle on the menorah
That illuminates the night
Comes a prayer You'd kindle
In me, Yeshua
A desire for Your fire, for Your light

Make of my mortal body
A house worthy of Your name
Rid me of what's ungodly and every hidden thing of shame

On this Chanukah
On this Feast of Dedication
I dedicate myself to You


And with every candle on the menorah
That illuminates the night
Comes a prayer You'd kindle in me, Messiah
A desire for Your fire, for Your light

Take my supply of oil
Not enough to burn long I fear
But, oh, how I pray I may one day say,
"A great miracle happened here!"

On this Chanukah
On this Feast of Dedication
I dedicate myself to You
My Yeshua, I dedicate myself to You.

by Marty Goetz (he played in Denver this morning and I had the thrill of hearing him live!!!)

Hanukkah - my Eight Nights of Lights. Jehovah Jesus Messiah - the Light of the World. This is my way of spreading a little light into the night. I hope you have enjoyed it all. May Jehovah bless you richly in the year to come.

night 8 - Eight Nights of Lights 2009

Tonight's topic is Penance - thinking reflectively about your life's path--and what changes you might want to enact.

Penance is defined as a feeling of regret for one's wrongdoings. Last year,I talked about making penance art. But it was penance for what happened to the Jewish children killed in the Holocaust. My feelings of regret for what someone else did that was wrong.

Several months ago, I started tonight's project. There's over 80 hours tied up into the making of it. Not something you can do in a day. But I think huge, time-consuming pieces of art are necessary every now and then in order to make us stop and give thought to what we are trying to accomplish.



Notes of Hope - my gift to Amaco because of their generosity in supporting the Holocaust Museum in Houston. If you read my blog, you know that they have sponsored a contest for the second year - making butterflies, 1.5 million of them, one for each child who died in the Holocaust.





Notes of Hope - is a collaborative piece. While the design and majority of it was completed by myself, I have contributions from Linda Peterson, Jana Ewy and Liz Welch. And we all 4 have signed the canvas. It's big. 20" x 16". Considering that strips of Friendly Plastic are only available in 1" widths.....just imagine how much product was used to create this!!! And in the process of making it, I've spent many hours thinking about the art the world has lost in the death of all the children...and the children's children that they might have had.



Notes of Hope - why the music? In Exodus, it indicates that there were about 3 million Israelites who left Egypt. And it tells us that they sang a song unto Jehovah. Now, can you fathom a choir of 3 million people singing in the desert?

And they sang: Jehovah is my strength and song, And he is become my salvation: This is my God, and I will praise him; My father's God, and I will exalt him....Thy right hand, O Jehovah, is glorious in power, Thy right hand, O Jehovah, dasheth in pieces the enemy.

My hope is that Jehovah will destroy the enemies of Israel and that we will be educated and wise enough to prevent children, such as those in the Holocaust, from perishing again.






Notes of hope - I have a lot of them!

Tonight's video will show you how to melt Friendly Plastic pellets, roll them out flat, and then airbrush designs on them. And I'm also showing you a closeup of the canvas.




1,500,000 children died in the Holocaust. 1,500,000 children who never created art. A great loss to the entire world. So I ask you to make a simple butterfly and send it directly to the Holocaust Memorial.

Hanukkah - my Eight Nights of Lights. Jehovah Jesus Messiah - the Light of the World. My art - my way of spreading a little light into the night. I hope you have enjoyed it all. May Jehovah bless you richly in the year to come.