Faithful Friday: Hope

Each Holy Week is different.  Though the Passion and the Truth remain the same, each year it is a new experience.  I have celebrated Easter in different parishes and denominations which allow for obvious variation in experience, but it goes deeper than surroundings.

Perhaps it is the stage of my life, a year of events that influence my perception.  For instance, being newly married I was more aware of the relationship between Joseph and Mary this past Christmas, particularly the strength and courage of Joseph as he took on this unique family.  This Easter the brightness of hope shines upon me as my earthly family is forced to confront mortality.

Last night in the Maundy Thursday service I watched the altar be stripped bare of its ornamentation.  Piece by piece the rector removed each component.  I watched as a line of women, clothed in black came slowly, one by one to the altar to take away each chalice, linen, crucifix, candle stick, and vase.  Then they took the priest's outer vestments and the altar was left bare-a blank wooden table, with a single overhead light, in a darkened church, while violin and organ played their haunting duet.  Lastly, they placed upon the altar table a crown of thorns, a stark and somber reminder of the arrest yet to come, and they read us the account of the watch of Gethesame.  I keenly felt the loss as our altar was systematically disassembled.  They weren't just taking away things, but vestiges of a life, The Life. 

The next few days will be pierced by solemnity and remembrance just as one mourns the loss of a loved one; yet we remember that the resurrection is coming.  In faith we secure our hope, knowing this separation is only temporary until we are reunited with the Lord.  And what a reunion it is, and was, and will be- full of wonder and joy and understanding as the glory of God is revealed.  

We press on in Hope, not as wishful thinking, but in "confident expectation," in the assured goodness of our God who so loved the world that He sent His only Son.

Light a Candle: Thankful Thursday

It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness {Peter Benenson}

We are called to be lights to the world.  So here are the things, some big some small, that are lighting up my life right now:

1. My husband who helps me edit works, deals with my messes, and is a pretty spectacular teammate

2. My awesome family; being an auntie

3. Friends and community who hold me accountable and encourage me and openly tell me their stories

4. People who ask good questions and people with humble answers

5. The public library- full of free ideas and inspirations

6. Holy week- loaded with special services to get our minds and hearts ready for Easter

7. Nuberri BOGO coupons- hello free frozen yogurt.  {espresso is my favorite}

8. Inspirational apps that help me to cast my cares and learn

9. Working in a positive environment

10. Spring and all it's gifts (minus allergies)

These things get my "seal" of approval.

e(dot)e Guest Blogged- Oh My!

My friends at Designs Unlimited, a stellar design company based here in Tallahassee, graciously invited me to guest blog today.  You can find some of my latest projects via my post {by clicking here}.  Catch their thrifty design ideas, works in progress, Friday Favorites and more on their staff blog and then scroll through their fabulous portfolio and see how they're working magic with spaces.  You're bound to find some "Pin-spirational" things.
{Oh dear, I just made a pun about pinterest... I'm officially addicted}

Tallahassee Tuesday

I probably haven't told you yet, though I think most of my readership is friends and family who already know, but- I live in Tallahassee, FL.  I love it, but I didn't always.

I first moved here almost 4 years ago as a grad student.  It was the first time I lived alone and so far from home.  I hated my first year here- imagine being over eight hours from home and everyone you know, and caught in limbo between college-aged and adult.  As a grad student I didn't quite fit with the college crowd or the "young professionals."  It took about a year for me to branch out from the small program in which I was enrolled and uncover the treasures of Tallahassee life.

Tallahassee can be good soil, if you can dig in deep enough to weather the constant turnover of the young adult population.  There are lots of great churches, sweet boutiques, nearby towns/counties to explore, beautiful back roads, delicious restaurants, and good people.  I found that once I knew a few people and found a handful of "go-to" hangouts, I started to feel the sense of community for which I searched.

Lessons I'm learning: Love where you Live, or more poetically, "Bloom where you're planted."

Faithful Friday

Faithful Fridays are rapidly becoming the only blogging day to which I am, well, faithful.  I do have some works in progress that I'll share soon, but remembering that God is the ultimate artist, let's look at His works in progress shall we?

I laugh about having ADHD, and sometimes I begrudge it- the real problems it creates for me are difficult (but not impossible) to overcome.    There are lots of down sides like hours and days when the fog rolls in and I can't get motivated to do tasks, much less focus on stuff.  The guilt of zoning out when I most want to be present for my friends and family is not fun, and neither is the struggle with memory {sometimes I feel like a goldfish}.  But there are also some upsides like- having lots of energy, being able to see connections between seemingly different concepts, being able to sleep regardless of the recency of my last caffeine fix, and noticing the little details.  

There's something redemptive about being distractable.  It helps me keep some of my childlike wonder at the world.  While my loved ones and acquaintances may have mixed feelings about my, "Oh hey, look, a butterfly," moments, I have to say I'm glad I caught some of those things.  In the busyness and the rush of today's tempo it gets hard to take time to appreciate the small wonders of our environment.  We can easily overlook the small delights around us, like the cheery yellow butterfly wending its way through the garden, or a magnificent sunset glimpsed through a clearing in the trees.

Recently I've been reminded to focus on the good things, to seek them out instead of focusing on my problems for fear that they'll never be solved.  Just as I was promised, the more actively I seek to find the good, the more readily I find it.  The changes in light, the whimsy of clouds, the colors of the sky- we can write them off as scientific, natural processes, but isn't it more fun, more beneficial and beautiful to marvel at them as majestic reminders of God's glory?  Even secular and agnostic sources are promoting an attitude of gratitude.  As believers we get to personally say thank you to the Creator for these visual gifts!  We can let the world tell us that these are just daily environmental occurrences, or we can accept that these things are demonstrations of Gods love for us.  God doesn't need the flowers to blossom or the sun to shine but He lovingly creates them.  They are His artistic expressions.  They are for you as much as they are for me.  Will you allow Him to woe you today?  Will you allow Him to console you in a brief distraction from your problems?  Open yourself to the possibility that that bright beam of sunshine or gentle breeze are His way of getting your attention and reminding you of His presence.

Birthdays Galore, Part 2

I've finally, almost, maybe completed this month's birthday cards...at least I've caught up with the "overdue ones."  Here are my most recent creations.  

Can I just be brutally honest and say, when drawing "chocolate" cartoon frosting, it's very hard not to make the icing look like a cartoon doggie 'chocolates.'  You know what I'm saying?!  I might have failed here, I'm not sure, but for future reference, it is helpful to not have the bottom of your icing be perfectly flat.  Either let the "cupcake" come up over the "liner" and draw the "icing" wiggly on top of that, or draw the "icing" overlapping the "liner."  I prefer the second approach because it looks more decadent, and it's easier.

I hope I haven't been too crass just now, but you see for all my serious thoughts, I have at least a handful of silly ones to go along with them.

Moving on...







I'm fairly obsessed with these new bunting style ones.  They were pretty straight forward, but time consuming.  I had a bunch of little scraps of tissue paper lying around from another project {I may feature that later}.  That's the thing about creative types, we can become pack rats as we up-cycle things. But that's the beauty of arts and crafting is it not?  That nothing is ever too little, too crumpled, too insignificant, or too damaged to be given a new life in a new creation.  
{See why I think of God as the ultimate artist?}

Process: Draw {imperfect} line(s) in alcohol-based ink
-watercolor wash--- allow to dry
-draw V shapes connected to the lines.
-cut out triangles within the V-shapes
-cut various triangles of tissue paper slightly larger than the cutouts
-dab glue on the reverse side and paste on tissue paper
-Voila, colorful bunting card.

My final creation surprised even me.  I only had a scrap of paper left, but-as I discussed above, those are the best "crafts."  I folded it in half and something made me think to do a fox.  One lucky friend will receive this card which, on the inside, says "I heard it was a foxy lady's birthday!"

Faithful Friday: Casting Cares

At twenty-sha-ma-na-na-na years old, I'm not where I imagined I'd be as determined by my teenage self.  Like so many others I imagined I'd have it all by now- college education and successful career making lots of money or at least "making a difference," happy marriage, a house, new car, etc. There's nothing wrong with wanting the American dream, but it is exhausting and demoralizing to relentlessly chase it on your own merit.

Reflecting on the life I envisioned for myself, I'm so thankful for ungranted prayers.  A lot of my dreams changed as I met new challenges, no surprise.  Psychology quickly replaced biology as my major when I realized I was more interested in minds than bodies.  My limited dating history, prior to meeting my husband, reads like a comedy of errors. The economy tanked as I left college and many of us are over-educated for the jobs we're working and the house/car/material dreams are harder to obtain.

I had big dreams of being significant for helping people, but here's what I've learned: it is absolutely exhausting trying to make yourself significant of your own merit, holding onto plans so tightly against the push and pull of unforeseeable circumstances.  I got a graduate degree that held so much promise of making me significant to my community, but using it pulled me away from my family, faith community, and the things that kept me grounded.  I spent almost a year of forsaking the things and people that mattered most, giving all my best effort trying to shine on my own.

God doesn't ask me to be my own light source, but to reflect divine light.  Every bump, scrape, scratch, and ding acquired through living and refinement allows me to reflect His light in a new way.  If I shine it's because He polished me; if I am dull it is because I tried to evade His hand.  Refinement hurts and God's not shy about it.  We are tested in a "furnace of affliction" (Isaiah 48:10) and even the wise will stumble so that they may be refined and purified (Daniel 11:35).  It is through refinement, however painful, that we know we are loved (Zechariah 13:9), as a parent disciplines a child out of love.

Refinement is hard; I'm probably not the first to tell you about that.  It was hard giving up a career that made me proud, but disgruntled.  God loves a humble servant, and humble me He does.  Yet here I sit, happier and more blessed, living a life unexpected.  We all face painful circumstances.  It's part of our refinement.  It's painful to accept that sometimes our plans are ill-suited, but when we surrender our expectations God reveals His glory.

How many of life's pains give rise to something more beautiful that couldn't have existed otherwise?  How much more do we appreciate the things for which we labored or that came at a high cost?  Shall we resent the labor and the cost and give up, or press on in hope of victory?  There's a party going on in heaven.  These battles are already decided and won.  We are free to accept today's challenges as enough for today (Matthew 6:34).  Cast your cares.