Joni shares a fond childhood memory that inspired her beautiful oil painting featured on the new planner.
Take a look at the painting on Joni's newest planner here.
SHAUNA: Hi, I’m Shauna with Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Thank you for joining us. Well Joni, everybody knows how much you love painting. But here’s my question – how do you pick your subject?
JONI: Often Shauna it’s from some of my most precious memories. And you know, if you’re like me, memories can be vivid, they’re crystal clear, even if from decades ago. Like for instance the time I painted from a childhood memory. Summer days when my family would tent-camp along the sand dunes of the Delaware Shore. At night, we’d make our campfire by the ocean, we’d sing hymns. And my daddy would always be sure to sing his favorite. The words were, “Brightly beams our father’s mercies from his lighthouse evermore; but to us he gives the keeping of the lights along the shore. Let the lower lights be burning! Send a gleam across the waves! Some poor fainting, struggling seaman you may rescue, you may save.”
After the campfire, we would trudge back over the barrier dune on our way to our tents. And one time my daddy and I paused at the top of that big sand dune. And to the south we could see the searchlight of the Fenwick Island lighthouse and straight ahead, there was the Indian River Bay and on it – blinking lights. My daddy pointed them out he said, “See that?” A red light on the bay blinked on, then off. And then a green channel marker did the same. He said, “Those are lower lights. Channel markers to show sailors where the water is deep enough for a boat to safely pass.” And so, I asked daddy, “Well, is that why we’re called lower lights?” And my dad motioned toward the lighthouse on Fenwick Island explaining that God is the big lighthouse, and yep, we are his lower lights [or what we call nowadays, channel markers]. We point the way, we show people where the danger is, where it’s okay to go, and where the safe harbor is. And then he said to me, “Joni, you should be like that. Like it says in the Bible, ‘Let your light so shine others.’” Then we slid down the other side of the dune and walked the rest of the way to our tent.
It was just one of those little lessons that pass quickly, but I remember it to this day, so vivid, so clear. God is the greater light, and as lesser lights, we should illuminate the way for others. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father in heaven [Matthew 5:16].” And so, the whole discussion between daddy and daughter and our time on the top of that sand dune – it became the inspiration for a large oil painting I rendered many decades later. It’s a painting of an expansive ocean with a big lighthouse on top of the cliff. And I painted a sweeping, magnificent sunset, with deep colors of coral and purple. My favorite part is the sunlight passing through the curl of the breaking waves, backlighting, and giving them an iridescent glow.
And you know, the team at Joni and Friends like this painting so much, that we put it on the cover of my brand new 2026 planner. I worked hard on it, and I think it’s one of the most beautiful and colorful planners I’ve ever done. So, to see this lovely painting inspired by that heartwarming life-lesson between my daddy and me, go to joniradio.org right now. I think you’ll like my choice of colors for the ocean and sunset. Again, visit joniradio.org to see this gorgeous oil painting and my exciting new 2026 Planner. And let my life lesson inspire you today. For God is the greater, the more glorious light, guiding us by his Word so that we all may find safe harbor in him. Come see my 2026 planner and the painting at joniradio.org.
© Joni and Friends