Lean into Love

Updated: 23 hours ago

I remember when my girls were little and they would come close, press in for affection, for security, or just to know that I was there. They would lean in with their full weight, sometimes even falling asleep as they snuggled close. What sweet moments when they leaned into my love for them! How much more so can we press into the love of God? Do we pause to give God our attention, our affection, and lean into His love.

Over the years I have created different drawings or collages with the image of a lion to portray Jesus/God (such as the Lion of Judah in Scripture, Revelation 5:5, or the imaginary stories of Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis). When the girls were little I would read them the C. S. Lewis tales of the majesty, sacrifice, power, and love of the great lion, Aslan.

A few months ago I printed a variety of images of lions from a google image search and put them in file for when I might need them. I will work with parts of an image when I need a real life reference for posture or details. When I was packing up for the beach last week I collected my art supplies and brought one of the lion prints.

picture of lion to draw — Lion and cub from Google search...

I started a sketch this week on vacation. I didn't just reference a portion of the image but was drawn to the whole relationship depicted in the photo. The photograph captured something beautiful between the lion and the cub. The little one seemed to be pressing into love and security.

I really didn't think much about it, but the image was art. My sister-in-law commented that she had seen the photo before online. I paused... full stop. And as I looked at the image again, I realized I was re-creating another artist's work. I was grateful for her observation. As an artist I should have been more thoughtful and was rather annoyed with myself for my oversight. It is important to honor an artist's work.

I needed to identify the photographer, so I searched Google for the artwork again. I found it. This particular image had been on social media, and the artist had an instagram account and a website. This striking photograph of the cub and her father was taken by Ricardo Reitmeyer (www.ricardoreitmeyer.com.) Ricardo had captured something timeless. I emailed Ricardo requesting permission to use his work for my own.

The next morning I received Ricardo's email response, graciously providing permission. Thank you, Ricardo. Here are the stages of my drawing this week between walks on the beach and family time.