Storms

Storms (2011), 24" x 19.5" - Ramona Dallum Lindsey, artist

Storms are a reality of life.  Often they sneak up on you unexpectedly.  Sometimes you see warning signs off in the distance.   For many people, storms foster emotions of impending doom.  While others exude peace in the midst of raging storms.   Life's most challenging times are equated with storms.  The mild challenges are a gentle summer storm lasting only a moment.  Life's extreme challenges are raging tempests spawned by violent winds.

Storms, the fourth piece in the Profiles of Courage Series, explores a community's reaction to life's challenges.   Each person at some point experiences some life challenge.  The effects of each person's handling of the challenge can have a lasting impact on the community at large.   A mother faced with unemployment turns to crime for daily survival.  A teen envisioning a hopeless future devalues the preciousness of life. A husband unable to effectively communicate with a spouse or partner acts abusive.  A young girl longing for love from an absent father becomes promiscuous. I live in a metropolis containing over 2 million people. The same storms that rage through our metropolis exist in the smallest town.   Our storms are just more pronounced due to the sheer number of people reacting to their own storm.

 

How can a community get through its storms without self-destructing?  I propose the answer is people of faith.  Their thoughts, prayers, and actions envelop the community.  In the community's darkest hours people of faith are lights chasing away the darkness.   Often they are faithful mothers, grandmothers, and daughters with nurturing spirits.  They're guided by strong prayer lives.  These prayer warriors minds' are fixed on their men and children.  Their strength is drawn from a higher power.  This strength is a protective blanket of hope.  Soon the storms become obscure and faith prevails.

Mind Control

After completing  “Do You Hear What I Hear” (2011), I realized that every man of faith is accompanied by a woman of the same character.   Mind Control represents her.   This third piece in the "Profiles in Courage" Series, shows science’s ability to explain some things and its limitation to fathom others.

   

Science has proven sound travels in waves of varying frequencies.   Humans detect sound waves with their ears.  Receptors in the ear carry the waves to the brain.  The brain interprets the information from the ear and lets  us know what we are hearing.   Scientist have used MRI technology to study the brain’s reaction to different types of sounds.   The technology allows scientists to see which areas of the brain are most excited by the sound stimulus.  I believe emotion is measured through our level of excitement.  If you’re really emotional the MRI will reveal higher levels of brain activity. But an MRI cannot reveal human thought.

If an MRI could read the thoughts of a woman of faith after receiving bad news, it would reveal something peculiar.    After hearing pronouncements of foreclosure, unemployment, and slow economy, her thought revealing MRI would see faith, hope, and opportunity.  How do I know?   Because I’ve experienced it.   I know my actions and spoken my words.  When the world marinated on seemingly impossible situations, I've hung on to possibilities.  I've turned pronouncements of doom into a new beginning while all the time relying on the power of my great big God.  A mind controlled by faith makes the impossible possible.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Do You Hear What I Hear? (2011) - mixed media textile

The second piece in the "Profiles of Courage Series",  was completed on June 29, 2011 – the day of my 15^th wedding anniversary.  “Do You Hear What I Hear?” is my tribute to the man I embraced in marriage.  It is a testament to the man of faith he has become through every challenging obstacle we have faced together.  He is also a science lover.  His tribute must combine faith with science.  “Do You Hear What I Hear” shows science’s ability to explain some things and its limitation to fathom others.

   

Science has proven sound travels in waves of varying frequencies.   Humans detect sound waves with their ears.  Receptors in the ear carry the waves to the brain.  The brain interprets the information from the ear and lets  us know what we are hearing.   Scientist have used MRI technology to study the brain’s reaction to different types of sounds.   The technology allows scientists to see which areas of the brain are most excited by the sound stimulus.  I believe emotion is measured through our level of excitement.  If you’re really emotional the MRI will reveal higher levels of brain activity. But an MRI cannot reveal human thought.

If an MRI could read the thoughts of my husband after receiving bad news, it would reveal something peculiar.    After hearing pronouncements of foreclosure, unemployment, and slow economy, his thought revealing MRI would see faith, hope, and opportunity.  How do I know?   Because I’ve stood by him and heard the pronouncements with him.   I’ve watched his actions and heard his words.  When the world - and his wife - marinated on seemingly impossible situations, he hung on to possibilities.  He turned each pronouncement of doom into a new beginning while all the time relying on the power of his great big God.

Martin Cornelius Lindsey thank you for being our Christian family’s man of faith.