LIFE: As a blogger, first and foremost, I’m a writer. “Life, Gratitude, Faith, & Passion” has been designed from the ground up as a vehicle for me to share words.

• One purpose is to put more people in touch with my work – because I’m deeply motivated to reach people with a message that I’m passionate about, a message that’s life-giving and transformational.
• At the same time, I’d be thrilled to put more people in touch with my books.

The bottom line, however, is life. “More and better life,” Eugene Peterson paraphrases the words of Jesus, “than we have ever dreamed of.”

LIFE! What this means is that, much as I’d love to see sales of my books creep into relevancy, I’d much rather witness people living lives that overflow with grace, mercy, peace, gentleness, joy, kindness, plus every other evidence of the work of the Gospel of Love. What I want to see is people turned upside down by “life multiplied by life” (my paraphrase).

This is why I’m featuring art by my daughter, Naomi Campbell, in today’s post. I’ve shared her work a couple of times before – so you already know that it’s always full with energy and verve; but this week something else has happened, and the result is the painting version of “life multiplied by life.”

To me it’s a metaphor for what happens when we move into a more vital relationship with our Creator. God adds color, texture, imagination, creativity, vibrancy, movement, strength, and passion – all the elements that I see in Naomi’s work.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22:1-5)

Trust me on this: simply invite the Lord of Light and Life to inhabit the core of who you are; give your life over to Jesus; then watch how God adds the Jesus quality of luminosity and vibrancy to your life.

Light, life, and promise – DEREK