Friday Finds on a Sunday Evening...

Joining in with Kim Klassen's weekly challenge...Friday Finds...I'd like to share mine...

I found this little handmade mini-pitcher at an antique shop in Medina, Ohio...about 45 minutes form where I live.  Like Sarah...I've gotten more into my garden this year.  The Edster has been working hard  making compost piles and then turning them into landscape islands...but I digress.

I planted a lot of perennials this year, but added some color with some zinnias.  Now...unless you want to cut off the whole plant, the individual zinnia blooms don't have long stems.  This pitcher is perfect to manage these little guys.

I also love how you can see the grooves from the individual handiwork to make this little treasure...

And while most of my garden remains outside, I can snip a little of my posies and place a little bit of color because of this Friday Find pitcher, that fits them so perfectly.

Two Posts in One - Friday Finds Plus!

Okay...it's not Friday (it's Saturday)...but sometimes this working girl is a day late and a dollar short...

This Friday Finds is inspired by Carol Orbeck and Summer of Color 2013...

Summer of Color challenge this week was hot pink and orange...what could I do that wasn't flowers????

Well back to Carol...in my last post...she said she had to know where I got the one charm in this photo that says gratitude...

Aha!  This has been one of the best finds EVAH!  This is a long necklace (that can double up into a shorter version) with these charms already already included.  I bought this as part of a fund-raiser for The Arc of Summit and Portage Counties out of one of those jewelry-party catalogs.  I wear it all the time.  Not only does it encourage me each day...but just like I can hear Arthur coming when he wears his tags on his collar...people know I'm coming (smile).

Now for Summer of Color 2013...I'm kind of conservative.  I have this orange-ish topper, with three-quarter length sleeves that I wear over a hip-length tank...but the jersey tank is white! (boring)  So I thought I would pair it up with a hot pink one I have.

The topper has this nice lace detail on the shoulder...

And here is the detail on the tank...

Add my Friday Find necklace, a silver Omega choker, and a pair of earrings...AND a pair of white capris...

This might actually work...

I must admit, the color is much bolder than these photos...I toned it down for you to see the detail.

Next week?  Who knows...it might be purple and aqua...

Happy Summer!!!

The Exhaustion of Insincerity - Conclusion

So, let's conclude this thread about insincerity and the audacity of authenticity that I started a few posts back.

Reflecting on embracing who we are, instead of who others think we are supposed to be...stirred up even more questions...especially as a Christian...whose allegiance to God's Word includes pages with words such as, "conform," "transform," "crucified," "die daily," and "new creature."

In light of this, embracing who I am or how I am, still leaves a lot to be desired...

But the key is not about who I am...but who I am in Christ...because of Christ...

What I have noticed has become so pervasive in the Body of Christ...from the time I was a little girl...is that somehow those in the Church have inadvertently and unintentionally made it about performance, perfectionism, and how our level of spirituality is about what we do instead of our standing alone because, and only because, of our rescue bought by Christ's sacrifice alone.

At times, life in the community of Christians can feel like a spiritual beauty contest...

Okay, before you came to Christ you were bankrupt...pitiful...pathetic, but now you have joined us...man...you gotta do, measure up, jump through the hoops, fit the "cookie cutter" mold of a Christian that lies in the middle of the bell curve.  You've gotta get with the program to get the nice warm fuzzies.

The words of John Newton's beloved hymn states:

Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me...

It is Christ, and only Christ, that has any merit, any value, any praise, even AFTER we have received this grace.  And without this...I'll speak for me...I'm still a wretch, a mess...

But instead, in our continued bankrupt state of the human condition, our pride creates a sense of piety...competition...a climbing up the spiritual status ladder.  And instead of feeling free to be authentic and real about our struggles, our failures, our sin...after our receipt of this gift of God's grace...we wear masks to appear more "perfect," "good enough," "holy"...

And the perception is no longer God's grace that bears merit...but what I do, what I give, how much I show up, how many small group studies I'm in, how many Bible verses I've memorized, how many mission trips have I taken...that counts.

And authentic living, the safety of being vulnerable and honest, has evaded the community that should be able to embrace it the most.

So do I accept and embrace who I am...consider myself enough?  Absolutely not.

But in Christ I am...nothing more...nothing less.

And whenever I feel devalued, shamed, flawed, and less than...

I remember Whose I am...and the precious price He paid took to make it so.

God sees me as priceless...and I am overwhelmed.

 

The Gift That Keeps On Giving - Ed's Father's Day

All of Ed's family is at least 6 hours or more away...

His love for me compelled him to move west to Ohio from the Valley Forge area of Pennsylvania...

So texts and phone calls were shared...not the same...and I know it.

But check out his present...bought by the Missus!

Boy was he surprised...temperatures on the hood...several shelves underneath the hood...a burner...a cover...

Ed loves his new grille...but I'm no fool...

Steak...shrimp on the barbie...surf & turf...

He loves the grille...and I love what he makes on the grille...and I love him, the wonderful husband and father he is.

The Exhaustion of Insincerity - Part Two

As I continue to think about the masks we wear and that the true gift we give others is when we are authentic...

I'm also sharing photos from the first week of The Summer of Color 2013, sponsored by Kristin at Twinkle Twinkle.  This week's theme:  Citron and Turquoise.

As I read about this subject of being sincere and authenticity...it seems to me that the underlying reason we dodge being sincere and authentic...who we really are...is because of shame...fear...Brene Brown calls them gremlins.

What if I think I am enough, but others do not?

What if I let my imperfect self be seen and known, and nobody likes what they see?

What if  my friends/family/co-workers like the perfect me better...you know, the one who takes care of everything and everyone?

It's hard to be authentic in world that applauds the perfect, the beautiful, the politically correct, the progressive, the people-pleasers...

Brown writes in her book, The Gifts of Imperfection:

Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we're supposed to be and embrace who we are.  

Choosing authenticity means:

- cultivating the courage to be imperfect, to set boundaries, and to allow ourselves to be vulnerable;

- exercising the compassion that comes from knowing that we are all made of strength and struggle; and

- nurturing the connection and sense of belonging that can only happen when we believe that we are enough.

Mindfully practicing authenticity during our most soul-searching struggles is how we invite grace, joy and gratitude into our lives.

She also writes:

'Staying real' is one of the most courageous battles that we'll ever fight.

E. E. Cummings wrote:

To be nobody-but-yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody but yourself--means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight--and never stop fighting. 

But as a believer in the Bible and in Christ, can I really view myself as being enough?

I'll explore that in an upcoming post...

The Exhaustion of Insincerity - Part One

Doing my Beyond Beyond lesson today...I had no idea where it would take me.  Kim gave us a photo for us to make into our own...with different processing, a quote, whatever...here's mine:

(Here is the original...)

Looking at the sea (where I don't get to often at all), I remembered a very special book that is a perennial favorite of mine...

Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Pulling the book off my one of two large bookcases on each side of my bedroom, I perused it, glancing at underlined passages, among the dog-eared pages caused from multiple readings.  This quote I placed in the photo seemed to resonate...especially after my last two book journeys I've read through.

Anne wrote this book when she got away for a month alone, spending it on Captiva Island, Florida...in a small cottage.

Here is the quote in its context, as she wrote her reflections looking at a channeled welk:

One learns first of all in beach living the art of shedding, how little one can get along with, not how much.  Physical shedding to begin with, which then mysteriously spreads into other fields.  Clothes, first.  Of course, one needs less in the sun.  But one needs less anyway, one finds suddenly.  One does not need a closet-full, only a suitcase-full.  And what a relief it is!...One finds one is shedding not only clothes--but vanity.

Next, shelter.  Here I live in a bare sea-shell of a cottage.  No heat, no telephone, no plumbing to speak of, no hot water, a two-burner oil stove, no gadgets to go wrong.  No rugs.  There were some, but I rolled them up the first day; it is easier to sweep the sand off a bare floor.  I have shed my Puritan conscience about absolute tidiness and cleanliness.  Is it possible that, too, is a material burden?

I begin to shed my Martha-like anxiety about many things.  Washable slipcovers, faded and old--I hardly see them; I don't worry about the impression they make on other people.  I am shedding pride.

As little furniture as possible; I shall not need much.  I shall ask into my shell only those friends with whom I can be completely honest.  I find I am shedding hypocrisy in human relationships.  What a rest that will be!  The most exhausting thing in life, I have discovered, is being insincere. That is why so much of social life is exhausting; one is wearing a mask.  I have shed my mask.

I must stop here.  Ponder these words and give me your thoughts.  Let's think about this and path this book is taking us.

Until then...be grateful for what you have...and know it is enough for today.