Category: inspiration

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Being Present

IMG_9105In raising children, every parent hopes about what days will be like throughout the stages of life.  I always envision myself as a mother who is in tune with the seasons, exploring with my children the land around us, and taking advantage of everything that nature has to offer us.  My vision for our future always consist of a slower pace, offering us the time required to cherish and love life together as a family.  Each year, I make a promise to myself that next year will be different.  Next year, I’ll be the mom that I want to be, living the life that I want to live. Yet, here I sit, the last week of October, and once again, I feel that familiar panic rising in my heart over one more autumn that is slipping by without me being present.

My children are 9 & 10 this year, which is quite old if you ask me.  That’s 10 years of envisioning a life with my children that I have yet to actually embrace.  I ask myself, what is keeping me from making these dreams a reality, and in a word the answer is busyness.

What on Earth am I so busy doing?  Put simply, I’m preparing for the future.  Our family homeschools, so a large part of my time is spent preparing my children for their future.  Daily, I have conversations with my children about what the future may hold for them, and what skills they must learn to prepare for life as an adult.  I also busy myself working to earn money.  Granted, I love the work that I do.  However, there is pressure to store up treasures in an effort to secure a better future.  I am so busy preparing for tomorrow that the every day moments fly right past me without a notice.

Isn’t this why God has told us not to worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself (Mat. 6:34)?  I know that my God will provide for me. I know that “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know that He watches me”.  My faith is in Him, yet I continue to toil in an effort to secure a better future for my family.  What promise do we have that the securities we work to put in place today will brighten our tomorrow?  What promise do we have of there even being a tomorrow?  None.  We do however, have God’s promise that He will provide for our needs.  This week my challenge for myself & you as well, is to trust God.  Not just in word, but in how I choose to live life.

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Creating Change: Inside Out Project

“I wish for you to stand up for what you care about by participating in a global art project, and together we’ll turn the world… INSIDE OUT.”

— JR

Creating Change, is a series of posts featuring artists who are using art as a medium to make a positive impact in our world.

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Show Me You; a series

I was little when I asked Jesus into my heart – young enough that I still thought of Jesus physically being in my heart.  My salvation was real, I knew Jesus, and grew up active in our church.  I have never known life without Jesus in it.  As a teenager, I would wonder about my relationship with God.  I didn’t feel like I had passion in my relationship with Him.  I felt His fire at youth retreats and conventions, but I knew that was different than having passion.  So, I prayed for passion.

Fast forward 15 years.  God has given me passion.  It often consumes me.  I feel like a cup that is overflowing, and I’m scrambling around in a frenzy of excitement trying to find out what to do with all of “it”.  “It” is a number things, like sharing God’s love & HOPE with Tibetans through knitting.  Another, is my artwork.  In the past I’ve simply let “it” spill out all over the place.  I don’t know what to do with “it”, so I start talking about “it” looking for direction as I wait to see what God is going to make out of the mess.

Mandy of Messy Canvas shared this statement on Facebook a while back.

“Quite frankly Christians, I’m ready to see you, not your Jesus.  Show me you.”

This status update & the conversation that follows has gripped me in such a way that months later, it still pulls at me.  It has started me down an internal path of wrestling.  I don’t know where the path will lead me, or even what direction it takes me.  When I’ve written my thoughts into a journal I seem to be all over the place in a kind of swirling ball of passion. I know that I have found something that is important, but I am unable to define it.  This single sentence has sparked a flame in me.  It is creating a passion for divine inspiration & art that is spilling out all over the place.   I’m searching for what to do about it as it is still very messy, swirling around in my heart & my head without any definition.

I have started the “Show Me You” series to give myself a place to  work through the swirling ball inside me.  I hope, dear reader, that you will jump in the conversation and offer your own thoughts & ideas to help me in my search for direction.

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Show Me You

quite franklyMandy of Messy Canvas shared this statement on Facebook about a month ago.  After reading the conversation in the comments section and because of my own personal experiences, the words resonated deep within me, and I have not been able to stop thinking about them.

It reminds me of a season in my life that found me starving for authentic relationships.  I was frustrated with the people around me who were unwilling to meet me where I was at.  If I wanted to have any type of friendship, it was going to have to be an at-church-only kind  of relationship. They were not willing to meet me for coffee to share our hearts, or to talk about what God was doing in our lives. If I wanted to see them, I had to go to a church meeting (they had meetings every night of the week).  Then, of coarse, there was an agenda for that meeting.  Agenda is good, and there should be an agenda at church.  However, I desperately wanted someone to be my friend outside of that.  In that time, I wanted to see people.  I wanted to share my humanity with another humans and relate with each other in those struggles.  I didn’t want to go to church again and again to hear another salvation message. I didn’t want to see “their Jesus” – I wanted to see them, to get to know them, & to have a genuine friendship.  This quote reminds me of the importance of meeting people where they are at. Coming to them as another human who also struggles and wrestles with God and be willing to walk along side of them.

In reflecting on this FB status I wonder, why as an artists, is it so difficult to find meaningful connection in the church?

 

 

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Danmalas by Kathy Klein

With summer just around the corner, I find myself spending more time gazing the flowers around me.  I love what Kathy Klein is doing with her “danmalas”.  I will most definitely being playing around with making some of these this summer.

What inspires you today?

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Danmalas by Kathy Klein

With summer just around the corner, I find myself spending more time gazing the flowers around me.  I love what Kathy Klein is doing with her “danmalas”.  I will most definitely being playing around with making some of these this summer.

What inspires you today?

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RV Crush

f9f80f65ce7ee71df9f26bc8ab6449adI REALLY want this RV.  I’ve had photos of the interior on my RV Pintrest board for quite some time & today I learned it’s for sale!

Check out the slide show here.

Now, I want to go paint something . .