I hear it beginning ...

 Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;

The whole earth is full of His glory.

ISAIAH 6:3

Threshold of Glory  © 2013 by Karen Mathison Schmidt, artist

18 x 36 inches • acrylic on archival, museum-quality cradled GessobordTM

SOLD • private collection, Riverside, Connecticut

This painting is from a photo I took a few weeks back, of the sun rising over the misty pond out in the pasture. What a splendid gift, to be there (with camera in hand!) when this happened. At the time I took the photo, our church choir was just learning a new anthem entitled Threshold of Glory, and I thought this painting would be a wonderful illustration.

It wasn’t until after I finished that I realized it could also be an illustration of one of my other favorites, the Eden’s Bridge song “The Whole Earth.”

Mist slowly rising,
The veil gently lifted
Revealing the splendour
Of another new day.
The valleys and hillsides
Are the prints of Your fingers,
All lifting their faces
To the call of Your name.

And I hear it beginning,
A feeling arising,
And a sense of Your presence
In all I survey. 

And the mountains and the hills
Shall break forth before You
With shouts of joy
And words of praise,
And the sunlight that glistens
Upon the waters
Will lift my heart
Once again,
And the whole earth,
The whole earth shall praise Your name.

Flashes of scarlet
And glimpses of purple,
Echoes of birdsong
And the whisper of rain.
So intense an outpouring
Is bemusing my senses,
Creation responding
To the call of Your name.

And I hear it beginning...

– EDEN’S BRIDGE –