Celebrate - Live It!*

In a phone conversation with a kindred spirit this past week, we were both weighing in on the good, the very good, and some of the bad, not a place we choose to dwell in, the bad that is from time to time in our faces, and asked ourselves where would we both be if we hadn't risked, stretched, studied, examined, tried, failed, tried, succeeded, etc. etc.?......and again, risked, stretched, over and over and over.

Well, I for one, and I think she also would say, might be in a heck of a depressed and complicated life.  I've learned and when I don't remember, try to remind myself that I am not responsible for everyone else's happiness.  I am responsible for my own life and happiness.  I can't make life easy for someone else nor can I predict, outline, insist upon the way or style in which another person lives, breathes and has their being.    I can only affect my own being, my own actions, my own happiness.

That being said, I can be momentarily – maybe a loooooong momentarily – distracted, derailed, disappointed, sad, depressed, angry, just down right miserable about another's actions AND I know I can not stay there in those down places.  It won't help the other and, shoot, the other probably won't even know or suspect that they've affected me with their actions! 

All of this is to say, what works for me and for my spirited kin is that risking, stretching, trying, examining sometimes seems counter productive yet most of the time brings us out to that beautiful rainbow's end with the pot of gold – our lives –  just waiting to be lived!  

Celebrate - Live It! – Words I'm living by and into this year – this is #3 of the Celebrate – Live It! theme*

Holy Thursday - the lessons get bigger

Image by WELS.net via Flickr

From Richard Rohr this a.m. - partial excerpt -"Wondrous Encounters: Scripture for Lent," pp. 134-135................

"The sacrificial instinct is the deep recognition that something always has to die for something bigger to be born.  We started with human sacrifice (Abraham and Isaac), we moved to animal sacrifice (the ritual killing of the Passover lamb described in Exodus 12), and we gradually get closer to what really has to be sacrificed—our own beloved ego—as protected and beloved as a little household lamb!  We will all find endless disguises and excuses to avoid letting go of what really needs to die.  And it is not other humans (firstborn sons of Egyptians), animals (lambs or goats), or even “meat on Friday” that God wants or needs.  It is always our false self that has to be let go, which is going to die anyway."

And, yes, I gave particular attention to my tootsies (that would be toes for many) this morning during my shower as this evening I will be rendering those feet for washing by one of my Christian friends and/or acquaintances during the remembrance of Jesus' washing the feet of his disciples as an act of servanthood - and of becoming the least of them.  

I, unlike the disciples, will not be unaware of what will be happening during the ceremony so I will be somewhat prepared as a man, woman, boy or girl takes each of my feet in their hands and applies a warm water "bath" in remembrance of Jesus' act.  I know that the feet that I may handle may not have remembered to give a good soak this a.m. but that will matter little as the reality of this act washes over me and makes even clearer what all of this leading up to Easter is about.  Clean feet only?  I think not, but an effort to live in service to others in whatever small ways I may offer - let me remember.

Holy Week, Tuesday - More Little Lessons

Image by Bakar_88 via Flickr

In reading this a.m. I was reminded of how eager I/we can be when it comes to judging others.  It can be an almost knee jerk reaction - what's that outfit, they should lose five pounds, they should gain five pounds, what's up with that purple hair, what's up with that dog of theirs, what's up with the way they're driving - on and on and on.  

What's up with me?! Someone else's business is not mine......what wasted time I spend in judgment.  Let me/us suspend judgment of others for a day - today.  Let me cultivate the habit of non-judgment.

Holy Week, Monday - Little Lessons

Image by fradaveccs via Flickr

"We are all your blessed Body, 

and you have always loved me precisely in my unworthiness.  

How can I not do the same to others?"

Quote from Richard Rohr - Hope Against Darkness p.38

Reading the daily devotion from Richard Rohr, I was struck by the above sentence in relation to something I've been harboring "against myself" for the past week or so......case in point - I desperately needed a parking place for a meeting (I happened to be running a little late) and as I searched  slowly, cautiously, a pickup truck roared up behind me, right on my tail - he tooapparently in a hurry.  Allowing myself to be pressured into stepping on the gas, I inadvertently pulled past a very open, vacant spot - which I noted in my rearview mirror was immediately taken by my pickup friend!  

I declared to myself quite loudly, I was alone in the car, just what I thought about this young fellow AND IMMEDIATELY thought, .........what was I thinking blurting out such a rude declaration?!!!  I'm supposed to be a child of God, the other driver the same - what made me blurt out that hatefulness, that uncalculated venom against a stranger?  Would I have said the same thing if another meeting member that I knew well had taken what I perceived as my parking spot?  I doubt it.  

That lesson hit me squarely, I mean I'm still thinking about it two weeks later - I'm praying that's the last time such rudeness regarding a stranger and their actions will pass from my lips or even through my mind.  If I can only treat strangers as friends, or neighbors as myself.....mmmmm, sounds familiar doesn't it? 

Art, 5K, and Easter Preparations

"Will You Make a Difference Today?"

11" x 13" - Mixed Media Collage*

Art, physical, and/or spiritual training -  any immediate connection/reactions for you there?  I hadn't thought of any similarities in the subjects until my daughter, the one in triathalon training, sent me an article entitled "The Lazy Triathlete".   The article poses a quite poignant question to those "in training" about whether or not they are willing to put in the extra effort it takes to be a winner or whether they are just "putting in their training time" as a habit. Marathon/physical training of any sort, and/or preparation for one's growth in spirituality - they might all be compared to the long distance preparation I've been doing in order to prepare for a one woman visual arts show scheduled in June.  

I remind myself daily that if there's not consistent work prior to the show it is unlikely that there will be anything for potential buyer/clients to view.   Switching my canvases from work areas atop a table, on to the floor, on to an easel - viewing the work in progress from a different perspective, making adjustments -  the work is getting done and my inventory grows piece by piece. 

The same way I've been training for a potential 5K YMCA fun run in May and a 13K Seattle Rock 'n Roll event in June - the only way to train is to plan and to execute the physical steps of dedicated exercise for weeks prior to the runs.   For example,  this week I added an additional 1K on to my run/jog/walk track and I felt more invigorated and joyous over the feat than I expected.  Feeling tired at the end of the 6K was a minor consideration, the surge of completion and a planned goal executed far outdistanced any feelings of exhaustion that may have been accompanying me home!

And Lent, let me not overlook Lent, and the extraordinary reality that a dedicated Lenten discipline adds to the festival of good news and Resurrection that I celebrate at Easter!  Easter comes with or without my study, reflection, contemplation and preparation but how much more meaningful that day of celebration is if I have prepared for it in advance!

Lastly, the similarities of physical/spiritual/and art execution narrowed for me in the last few days as I placed what I believed was an almost finished piece of art on to an easel for photographing it - oh my, forget it - the painting screamed at me, "I AM NOT DONE".  Now it was in some ways - "done enough" - but I knew that I could not in all good conscience hang it on a gallery wall for display.  Whether I liked it or not, there was more work to be done....and so the extra effort, the extra paint, the extra applications of layers will make the effort, like the additional 1K (each week) and the Lenten study leading to Easter, into  an invigorating and joyous completion!

So I ask you, in your art, in your physical and/or spiritual training, do you/have you gone the extra K, the extra dollop of application, the extra moments of reflection and contemplation?  Or do you just put in your time and go through the motions and think that that's enough? Are you the lazy triathlete?

Where is everyone?

"Is it Safe to Come Out?"
16" x 20" Mixed Media Collage

On the day I'm authoring this post I have various combinations of personal family and friends either living and/or traveling in these places - Hong Kong, Thailand, Barcelona, France and Italy, as well as in FL, NY, TX, WA, HI, MN, CA, MO, WY, OK, GA - frankly those are all the places that I can think of at this moment.

One might assume that with all the news of tragedy in this world locally and abroad that we would hunker down close to home and make sure that none of our children or spouses ever left the nest.  But that's not the way life is.  We continue to move onward and out, exploring, stretching our borders  as well as our imaginations.  

It's amazing that we continue to move about freely even as our hearts jump when a global or stateside tragedy flashes across the news screen or internet - where are our peeps - our children, our sisters and brothers, our friends?  We count noses, we thank God, we breathe a sigh of relief that it is not our family that is personally involved in tragedy - but of course, because we have the global connection and internet and news coverage that we do, it is our family that sits in the rubble of Japan, that cries in the marketplace in Iraq, that trembles at the night time sounds of unknown enemies rummaging through rubble in Haiti and all over the world.  

We would go insane if we had to carry all the fear and burden of every single person in the world in our hearts.  We could not survive if we felt every loss of life as the losses we incur when someone very close to us dies - yet, the least we can do is to pray for those whose burdens this night are unbearable for them alone - pray that for some small instant they may be given hope or relief or courage in their sorrow.  Where is everyone and where should our prayers be directed this night?

Artists Supporting Artists

"Pegasus....Flying Lessons"**
Inspiration from the flying horse of Greek Mythology

by Artist Monica Stobie*

"Father Steve in Civilian Attire"**
by Artist Jill Ingram*

I know that networking with business colleagues, volunteer workers, potential clients, and even friends is an important aspect of business development, non-profit sustainability, and social millieus.  Applying this network theory to re-entering the art world after a loooooong hiatus, I don't know why I've been so surprised at the willingness of artists to support and encourage established as well as new artists - but I have been VERY pleasantly surprised and warmed by many displays of support!  None the least, being that of Monica and Jill!

Now there are those artists in all walks of life, after all they ARE human beings,  who will deliver snarky remarks about one's style, one's media, one's subject but they are farther and fewer in between than those artists who truly reach out and support one another.  I believe that the snarky group may be suffering a slump in their own productivity or that they live in a world of fear rather than in a world of joy and possibility - once more after all, they ARE human and the human condition is the position from which we live our lives.

I've a list of artists here on my site (click on the Home Page tabs) who've been generous, curious, supportive, and just down right nice about assisting me in resources, in advice regarding dealing with galleries, setting prices, buying supplies, etc., and by the way, the list is growing.  They really know little about the work that I'm producing here in my studio (although several of them have seen my work already) but that does not seem to hamper them in their positive encouragement of my ability to create.  All of this is to say, we ALL have creative gifts inherent from our own Creator - some of us will use those gifts in what the world considers an "artsy" way and others will use their creative gifts in business, education, marketing, knitting, volunteering, pedicuring, massaging, piloting, gardening - the list can go on -

My point is - I've found that in lavishly sharing one's gifts with others, one's own gifts can grow exponentially.  Before we know it, by exercising a less critical (read that as cynical rather than creative criticism) eye toward the work of others,  the joy in our own work becomes enhanced by the multitude of variety in all persons' creative bents even though they differ from our own. We are not afraid to share.  We know there is enough praise, clientele, creativity in this world that all can be prosperous in their chosen field of endeavor.  The problem I see is that we often live from the fear of "not enough" and become stingy in our praise and support believing we lose if we share.

I thank persons who read my blog, who support my endeavors as a visual artist, who lavishly give of their time and talent to all they meet.  Is there someplace today that you can freely share your praise and support with no thought of what that support will cost or benefit you? I think such praise given freely will bring a clearer mind, a taller stature, and maybe even peace to you as an artist and as a celebration of your free will choice as a created being.

*Artists Monica Stobie and Jill Ingram - two extraordinary artists who have generously invited me to host my one woman show in their gallery for the month of June.    Please enjoy your visits to Monica and Jill's sites.

**Pieces pictured here today are in the personal art collection of MindSieve and her spouse:)  

Teeth and Tootsies, Extravagant?

"BLESSINGS"

Mixed Media Collage - 11" x 13"

This a.m. I had an appointment with an excellent dentist who repaired a couple of chipped teeth and generally, once more,  put my mouth in tip top smiling condition.  After an hour in the dentist chair and the goofy feeling of numb lips and cheek, I drove off for another appointment where I plopped onto another chair - a massage type - and placed my feet into a warm bubbly bath to begin an hour of pampered pedicure.  

Now before you just assume that I am a totally spoiled brat, I need to tell you that I do NOT take the aforementioned appointments for granted.  I consider both of them - the dentist and the pedicurist -to be luxuries, all the while, giving thanks for the multitude of material and spiritual blessings in my life.  Nor do I believe that I'm probably much different than many of you readers in that my life is one of extravagance.  Now before you started debating your own simple state of being, think about it - what would many citizens of the world think of your lifestyle that includes your computer, your IPad, your Blackberry, your car, your bike, your expensive handbag, your shoes, your full refrigerator, your gym membership, your last plane trip, your next plane trip, the last time you were on a beach or shushing down a mountainside on your strong legs and new skis?  You get the picture - extravagance!

So let me just say I'm not advocating a life of cell living and bread and water, yet I've been particularly counting my blessings in light of the recent world events of devastation and destruction caused by mother nature and by mankind and I know many of you have been doing that also......if you haven't taken time to count your blessings nor contributed lately to your favorite charity, please take a minute today and do so.......we have so many blessings for which to be thankful - don't we?

IS IT SAFE TO COME OUT?

"IS IT SAFE TO COME OUT?"

Mixed Media Collage - 16" x 20"

Well, I've not much to say this evening except that some time ago when I put the above collage together with scraps of world maps and tiny childrens' faces peeping out from the surface there hadn't yet been a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in Japan, nor a self-immolating merchant provoking protests and regime change in Egypt, nor missiles and planes falling from the night sky of Libya. 

Has it ever been safe for children to come out?  Will it ever be?  Can I make a difference in the answers to these questions?  I don't know - do you?

Website or Blogsite?

 Detail of collage entitled - "The Daily News - Vietnam, Continued"

For a while now I've been considering a website as an alternative plan to my current blogsite here at MindSieve.  Over the past week or so and particularly this last weekend, I visited many artists' sites, blogger locations and websites..... delved into an exercise on two fronts - that of SquareSpace and iWeb, iWeb being a Mac.com product.  After screeching about how dumb I can be sometimes, my spouse suggested that I might "enjoy" a couple of tutorials rather than just playing with the programs.  It's always annoying when he's right about something but I must say he was right about the tutorials.  I learned a lot more in a short time by simply sticking with the instructors.  I learned that both of the aforementioned products are excellent platforms for when I truly am ready for a website, and that's just not right now.

The chief idea for the website was to share my artwork with other artists and viewers of interest.  Right now that artwork is limited in scope.  Once I've increased my inventory of completed artwork - to the dozens and dozens of pieces that I believe a website needs, then I'll reconsider the website adventure.  So for now, I've spruced up my blog's sidebar - hope you'll take a look there - and plan, along with my regular personal blogging posts, to feature a few artist friends in the painting and photography categories from time to time here on MindSieve.  If you'd like to be featured here, I'd love to receive your contact information either in the comment section or directly to my email address diannawoolley@mac.com.  I won't necessarily feature every person that drops me a line but I am always eager to see other artists' work and hope to hear from you soon!

"The Daily News - Vietnam, Continued"

Mixed Media Collage 6" x 18"

Life in two parts

"PEAR-LY  THERE II"

Mixed-Media Collage - 9" x 12"

Quote here by Richard Rohr from 

Falling Upward, A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, p.xiii

"The first half is discovering the script, 

and the second half is actually writing it and owning it."

How convenient or coincidental(?) is it that Richard Rohr's quote should come before my eyes this morning?  The subject of NOW has been part of my personal theme song for the past couple of years in that I'm very alert to the fact that I'm firmly ensconced in the second half of my life (that is if I expect to live until I'm 136!.....you can do the math.)  At any rate, I repeat I'm definitely in the second half.

I'm eager to read the Rohr book that I've quoted from above as he obviously writes from a spiritual point of view about the two halves of life.  Yet, I too, speak of spirituality when awakening myself to things done and left undone, experiences I've always wanted to have in my life, people to meet, friends to make, travel to distant places, physical strengthening, reading, writing, painting; the list goes on.  I think my point is thinly veiled - I'm working at achieving and experiencing my bucket list NOW.  I'm not making excuses about no time to write, no time to read, no time to run a mile, no time to begin yoga, no time to say I love you to all my friends and family.

How about you?  Are you waiting until the pantry is full, or you've been to the cleaners, or gotten to the library, or washed the kitchen sink or bathroom bowl?  No matter your age as you read this post, you could possibly be in the second half of your life right now - don't wait, don't put off improving your mind, honoring your body, tending to your spiritual self - go for it today!!!  

**Collage from One Woman Show - Opening Reception - June 3, 2011 
Gallery at the Weinhard
Weinhard Hotel - Dayton, WA

STAR TREK

"STAR TREK"

Mixed -media Collage 16" x 20"

In producing one's own art there are many aspects of preparation prior to the work actually hanging on a wall in a home or in a gallery or museum.  In a strange sort of way, creative preparation - such an amalgam of detail (today I'm leaving out the aspects of study/practice/craftsmanship/etc.) - perusing galleries, comparing styles, media, subject matter, producing one's own art -  the creative work or should I say play,  is a bit like television viewing.  Huh?

I'm not much of a tv viewer in that I don't have favorite shows that I set the clock to watch nor do I remember the actors' names or their history on stage, movie screen or theater.  However, I DO have favorite shows that find my computer screen via Netflix or ITunes -  a few of them I'm rather hooked on - but that's another post.  The point is that the shows I choose to watch and sometimes actually adore are probably not the shows that you would adore and vice versa.  My seeking out the latest PBS special to learn how apples originally migrated around the globe from Kazakhstan or Masterpiece Theater to find what the well dressed English Lord and Lady are wearing to dinner in their well-appointed abbey might not be the kind of television that you'd prefer - perhaps Monday night or Sunday afternoon football is your choice, i.e., .....the Super Bowl played in Dallas by teams from Pittsburg and Greenbay?  Oh well....there's something for everyone!

This is all to explain that when I finished the above piece of art and suddenly named it "Star Trek" I had to laugh as I never, ever watched a "Star Trek" television episode and the movie?.... forget it! I can identify prominent members of the cast but I never gave a hoot about becoming a "Trekkie" nor had the interest to sit for even half an hour with the show.  Yet, that's the name that came to me.....how strange.

But further, the television versus art - we ALL have our television favorites, our tastes, our selections, our utter disgust with one selection and our utter delight with another.  So it is with art.  We that produce it would be happy if everyone loved our work but that seems extremely unlikely doesn't it?  What one person proclaims a masterpiece, another proclaims a piece of junk.  With that huge upfront generality in their minds, artists have been drawing, chipping away, smearing oils, charcoal, and  even elephant poop and heaven knows what else on walls and canvases for centuries - fully delighting part of their public and frightening or at best confusing the rest.  Yet, no one asks us artists to put ourselves out there on the end of the diving board of public opinion - we just bring that on ourselves.  Why is that? Perhaps because we must - because we feel that part of us needs to speak, part of us needs to create, part of us wishes to be adored, applauded, and just plain ol' we do it for ourselves.

In June I'll be displaying my work in a true first "one woman show" - such an exhilarating thought for me as I prep with cutting, pasting, selecting, sifting, painting, prepping, framing, wiring, hanging, and starting over again on another piece.  It makes me happy to envision a body of my work in one place, at one time, with invitations and publicity surrounding it all.  I think briefly about those who will arrive at the show with loving support, those who will lie through their teeth saying they love the work, and those who will sincerely find themselves inexplicably drawn to colorful and unique pieces of artwork that I've created.  I dwell on the first group and the last group mentioned and on the mere fact that the work is from my heart, from my soul, from my call to create - so, today's work entitled "Star Trek" may be completely apropos to the journey that artists make when declaring to the world I am a creative talent, please join me in my exhilaration and sincerity in bringing these works to life.

The journey you're on?  Is it a "Star Trek" adventure - open, unbelievably exciting, something you've yet to share with others?  Give it some thought and consider that perhaps there are other "creative trekkies" out there just waiting to share in what you  consider worthwhile and life expanding.

Coming Attractions II**

 

"SOUTHEAST ASIA TALKING TREES"
Mixed-Media Collage, 24" x 36"

"While role models are helpful, we are not called to copy other people.  Rather, we are to become fully the people God created us to be, living our own lives in response to our own calls - as Jesus lived out his life faithful to God's call for him.  So it is that hearing one's call is akin to discovering one's self."*
  

What interesting paths we are led or called to in our lives.....innocent and seemingly little acts of influence from others,  habits we develop,  urges, and magnetic forces take us where they will.  Role models' lives that we've admired or interacted with, whose mere existence seemed beyond our grasp, become easy acquaintances and not so far from where our own paths have steered us.

In my life right now, I'm amazed at forces that have brought me to this place of contentment that I find in my construction of mixed-media collages. I marvel at the energy that  is projected toward me and drawn from my own childrens' ambitious lives, the joy of sharing discovery in a sibling's life of her talents and achievements, the glow in my heart from living with a spouse who continues to follow his own call to work with people of faith and people of little and sometimes no faith, the tears shared, the smiles and laughter coming from friends recovering from grief, the recent joy of admission from a friend that she had been plagued by certain possible situations occurring in her life and her being surprised that when the events did occur, she actually survived them and marveled at how wonderful it is to be finished with those fears!  A rebirth, a reawakening of call, of existence, of life!

Coming Attractions II** refers to my one woman show scheduled for June, 2011, but coming attractions too also points to the vitality and conviction that I feel I'm stepping into at this time in my life.  How about you?  Are you feeling a call for something new, a long-held fear that should be erased, the knowledge that there is more to life than you've been allowing yourself to experience?  Why not embrace coming attractions too and get on with our amazing life.

*Quote - "Listening Hearts/Discerning Call in Community" - Morehouse Publishing

**Opening Reception - June 3, 2011 
Gallery at the Weinhard
Weinhard Hotel - Dayton, WA

Ordinary Days?

Image via Wikipedia

In the scheme of momentous, expansive days in my life, last Thursday may not have been exceptional.  Yet, I've rolled the memories of the day about in my head quite a bit, reminding myself of how remarkable an ordinary day can be, if only we allow ourselves to be in the moments of the day and perhaps later reflect on the extraordinary influence in our lives of those ordinary days. 

It was a sunny day, remarkable in itself as the last few weeks have been very grey here in our valley.  Sunshine out, my day was one of errands of little import except to me.  Stop #1 was a beautiful orchid warehouse, where the sun was softened but not grayed through the greenhouse windows, the humidity just right, and the orchids bursting with color - it almost felt as though an orchid melody was prevailing! The greenhouse proprietor led me through expansive, hypnotic, blooming aisles pointing out variety and characteristics of those orchids I stopped to admire.  Together we selected a number of specimens (she warning and I wisely rejecting those that had to have very special humidity and every other day watering).  Under her deft handling of characteristics, color and composition, I was fortunate to carry a beautiful touch of creativity back into my home.   I reflected that the greenhouse did not exist in actuality when my spouse and I resettled our home in this small town - now it is an outlet to retail and private customers on and offline on a global basis.  A fine example of embracing one's passion and building a business on it!

Stop #2 was to pick up several garments that I've been thrilled to have altered into smaller versions of attire:)  Here I was welcomed warmly into the shop by Irma's smiling, precocious 4 year old  granddaughter who was "helping" her grandmother for the day.  Irma fetching my order all the while chatting with me as the 4 year old boldly clicked open the cash register in order to place my check inside the drawer......she allowed as how she knew how to work the machine on her own and gave me a very nice thank you as she stashed the cash.  This was all very unremarkable I suppose except that I marvel at the fact that the young grandmother apparently has a burgeoning business, confident in her skill, her entrepreneurship, and her tenacity to make it happen - all the while probably unknowingly influencing her granddaughter in a very positive manner!  

Stop #3 was a Stephen Ministry visit with a friend who needs a neutral ear to share life issues that feel way too heavy on her heart these days.  It was my honor to provide those ears and to be allowed into the depths of her heart and sorrow, not to advise or to fix but to just listen.  Again, though as I listened, I was quite certain that my friend was unaware of how remarkable I believe she is - in her stature as a woman, as an educator, an artist, and a beloved mother.

1, 2, 3 women's paths intersected mine in the day, entrepreneur, educator, artists, each competent in their fields, each setting an example for other women younger and older (I older than all three of them) in how to move through life the best way possible, how to set positive role models for those around them, how to succeed in spite of diverse circumstances, cultural differences, and age related issues.  Not mind-blowing stories of heroism, courage, triumph; just women in their everyday lives exhibiting competency, spirit, warmth and welcome......last Thursday was a humbling, remarkable day of heart expansion for me.  I bet someone touched you last week or even today in a similar way -  reflecting upon your day, I hope you can remember that other person or maybe even come to realize that you, in your own special way, made a difference to another person today.

More Words - Meaningful Intentions

What a nice response I received from a number of readers sharing THEIR 2011words. I won't attempt to share readers' full responses but please feel free to ponder others' words for yourself and/or continue to hold your own words in the forefront of your consciousness.  Simple words can impact subtly or dramatically impact your daily activities!  Maybe you'll want to try on some of these -

Expectation

Procrastination

Bless

Essence

Connections

Integrity

Authenticity

Joy

Fearless

Creative

Energized

You may find that even words you would find puzzling as inspiration are out there in the universe to boost another to learn new habits, live in different ways, recognize inner strengths and raise expectations of one's own capabilities.  We're amazing creatures meant to share in the fullness of our own Creator's blessings.

Any words you want to add to the list? Maybe you've no need to share your words with anyone else  and the words will just reside in your brain or on the top of your desk for daily or occasional viewing:)

Remember, sharing sometimes magnifies the reality of a concept or word's relevance to being and doing.........

Driver or Passenger?

Prior to the right turn toward Dayton,

a full stop and careful left check for oncoming traffic

Snow - a quick rear view glance, a break tap re slippery ice

easy negotiation of the smooth curve ahead - attention to oncoming vehicles

Then the highway smoothes and all the view is straight ahead 

Prior to the right turn toward Dayton,

a full stop and careful left check for oncoming traffic

Conditions not one's worry, 

negotiations - out of one's hand

Oncoming traffic of little interest in comparison to

the Blue Mountains topped with snow

Sun barely rising,  pinking the sky with a kiss

Or the damp, ruffled feathers of a hawk atop light pole and/or bare tree

surveying the land for tasty morsels of vole and field mice

 Image by NDomer73 via Flickr

A thought can stray to where the birds spent the night

- certainly not out in the cold

Maybe a barn left thoughtfully vulnerable by a farmer or his wife

Driver or passenger  

keep or give up the control 

whose ride will be remembered, reflected upon, cherished

*Photo Image by NDOMER 73 via Flickr

Waiting for creation

Does the creative womb

stop in time

stand still.....

Or is it ever active

nourishing the gift

even as the artist waits impatiently for the birthing

God's season of darkness,

of patience, of wombs,

of nevertheless prolific stirring

The womb of holiness 

does not cease to nurture

even in the silence

It works with the whole of creation,

awaiting the birth

ready or not, it will come

Silence, waiting, Advent

Image via Wikipedia

Participating in an online Advent season program, last week I found myself suffocating in an avalanche of directions, music, activities, participant email comments, artwork, etc.,  until I suddenly threw on the brakes and realized that my over-achiever button was apparently clicked into the on position!  Taking a deep breath I re-evaluated the instructions for participation and of course, as the program designers would have it - there was a plethora of tools for one's personal path through Advent - the plethora not meant to drown but to offer the participant a menu of life savers designed to SLOW down the season NOT complicate it.  Once I clicked the proper settings on the site and settled down to the activity each day that was most comfortable for me, I found the silence and my mind at work in that silence to be a connector to the season rather than a detractor!

How silly it is that in my efforts to be silent, to await the coming of Christ, I would allow so many different directions to pull my actions away from rather than toward the season.  For the remaining days of Advent, I plan to keep my crazy, control freak button switched off and my reflective, listening buttons clicked on.  Clicked on to the reason for the season, the blessed celebration of the arrival of Jesus into the world as we know it on earth.

You, are your buttons and your gears all placed on fast forward, rush, excelerate, can't stop position?  I hope not, but just in case, take a deep breath and realize that some things can wait, some things don't have to happen.  Waiting in silence, in hopefulness, in reassurance - what a nicer mode of operation in which to welcome the Christ Child.

Happy Advent!

Waiting in Silence

This a.m. in stillness and reflection I was prompted by my online participation in Birthing the Holy "to move to the edges of what we know, to grow less comfortable and stretch ourselves into new places."  In general to be alert, awake, and faithful for the coming of that which we can only imagine.  As I attempted to clear my mind of external distraction, a poem that I wrote last year regarding faith and the willingness to wait in silence for the coming of our Lord, came to my mind.  I share here again that poetry......

Faith from the dirt

The ground - such faith lives in the dirt
It prays that the seed will take to its bed
That the soil can once more quickly envelop its teeny charges, with few escaping to death
It begins to pray for water

How can the soil expect its prayers to be answered again
Year after year, it prays for water and the water comes
In a cloudburst from heaven or the steady misting from a man made device
It continues to pray for water

The soil is patient as a parable
Always sure of its purpose
Most assuredly aware of the pathway to harvest
But probably never aware of its power and strength to feed the world

Unknowingly the seeds nestle into the soil and nurse from the rain's benevolence
Swelling into abundance and bursting into the glory of green life
The soil is hidden now, a lowly shade of dirt brown next to the brilliant green crop
But its job goes on, supporting, bolstering, strengthening the sheaves

Now praying for the warmth of the sun
The scarcity of feeding deer and trampling elk
The sun hears and responds with glorious scorching warmth
Baking the wheat to a golden field of dancing abundance

The soil gives its life to the harvest
And mourns the wheat's departure with fine layers of dry, airborne dust
The soil will miss this crop and resign itself to waiting and praying
Praying for the strength and opportunity to sustain a new harvest of tiny, unknowing seeds

SS poetry inspired by the golden wheat fields of the Walla Walla Valley

Advent Posings

I've found in my worship life that "taking on" a project, assignment, task, discipline for a season or for a period of days/weeks, etc. is a way for me to stay - in the words of the Avent season - AWAKE!  So this Advent Season my thoughts and actions are narrowed from the worldwide communion to a few hundred folks online for the season of Advent.

In pursuit of the daily discipline I opened an email yesterday suggesting a worship outline of music, listening for God's words in silence, composition of a blessing and questioning myself in regard to "Where in my life do I want to breathe more deeply?"

Breathing more deeply in order to be present in the moment, in the now of my life.  Breathing more deeply to recognize the mere act of inhaling and exhaling that I so take for granted - the gift given to me at birth, or maybe at inception?  At any rate, in reflection upon "breathing more deeply" these words came from my fountain pen to the journal

I pray for an awareness of the breath entering my left brain

For the recognition of clean, fresh breath focusing my left brain logic, all the while allowing that logic to overflow and infuse its power in to the creative, sometimes jumbled right brain

For the breath in the right side of my brain to feed my imagining and an explosive creativity of written words, along with tangible created collage images

I ask my breath to work through the tangles of left and right brains - smoothing, making/allowing/ forging new pathways/connections

Finally, connections of my breath, heart, soul and hands - coming together in tangible expressions of God's glory in my artist's heart

 *New collage in progress