Ezekiel writes prophecies with cedars and eagles representing both the promise of Jerusalem and the threat of foreign dictators. My dream, this time, led me to see a cedar with bared branch and trunk being shaken by a hunter. I found it odd that the hunter would be the protector of the sheep, which are glowing white —but not so bright. The one with the gun as the shepherd? But there it is.

The other part of the dream was this orchard or small forest of green. They represent something but to me they are only beautiful. I liked them from the dream and put them in the painting. I added the temple of the new, heavenly Jerusalem, too, with the rivers of living water flowing from its base.

Many of the decisions were aesthetic, most I suppose, but the painting says to me that the Lord is not always the gentle shepherd; He’s often the one I’d least expect to be the prophet. This hunter is, I’m sure, a reference to people I’ve known and loved and with whom I’ve had strong political differences of opinion. Love has to be the answer. Maybe that’s the “point of the painting” for my own understanding of what is communicated by God subconsciously. Maybe it is for you, too.