Artist: Allie Occon
Title: The Inbetween
Medium: Oil on panel
Size: 9x12
 
I love the juxtaposition between these intense emotions presented in "Best is Yet". We have grief and hope. Sorrow and peace. This yearning for something we can't have and this acceptance of whatever our place actually is. At first I left like it was a sad song that had some good raw emotions I could draw on, but as I listened (over and over) I felt that it was actually a song about this in-between space. Not really sad, not really joyful. A space where you've been hurt and you've come out on the other side still wounded, but at peace. Realizing that you can mourn and can honor your unmet desires and goals, while still living and even looking forward to things that are better. We gain such a depth to our souls when we are hurt or experience loss, wether that be a loss of an opportunity, a friend, a place, and especially a loss of a life. That grief speaks up and shows us how much that meant and tells us so much about ourselves. When we take those moments of reflection, those in-between moments, we can solidify who we are now, after this great change, and can hope for a future brighter than what we have. This candle light, it is small, but I wanted the viewer to feel the warmth that comes from even a little light. Seeking Jesus, the light of the world, even if we only have a spark in our lives from the goodness of others or an experience too perfectly crafted that it seems ludicrous to say God was not the author, as we have those moments of light, of reflection and renewal, we can give ourselves space. Time to accept and time to realize that the future isn't written, we can create even if it's not our original intention, we can still mold a future we enjoy.