A Simple Prayer ~ Texture Tuesday

Dear God ~

Enlighten what's dark in me...

Strengthen what's weak in me...

Mend what's broken in me...

Bind what's bruised in me...

And lastly...

Revive whatever peace and love has died in me.

- Chonda Pierce

Can I Have My Crayons Back?

I came across this wisdom in my quote feed from Goodreads:

“Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten. Then when you hit puberty they take the crayons away and replace them with dry, uninspiring books on algebra, history, etc. Being suddenly hit years later with the 'creative bug' is just a wee voice telling you, 'I'd like my crayons back, please.” — Hugh MacLeod 

When I think of what I enjoy most when I'm "off the clock," it is all about creativity.  This has been a passionate thread throughout my life...even in my career interest tests it would always be the same: "Well suited for the creative arts."

But it seemed like fluff...so I ventured safer pathways where a salary was guaranteed.  I've done well.

But looking back it seems if I was not involved in something creative, I was not really living.  These feelings came from the heart of a girl who could draw Fred and Wilma Flintstone perfectly when I was in Kindergarten.

I created music through singing and playing instruments. I created clothing for myself and my children.  I created a nurturing home through decorating.  I created cuisine through cooking.

But there have been times when the well was so dry that there was nothing to tap into creatively...

I was just starting my work in pediatric palliative care.  It is demanding work.  Then six weeks in, my father was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, dying six months later.  The loss hit me hard and I'll spare you the details of my grieving.

I had bought my first DSLR as a "congratulations on your new job" around my birthday but had not done much with it.  The next summer I picked it up and began getting to know it.

And an amazing thing happened...healing began.

Creativity was no longer fluff or self-indulgence...it is part of my restoration and renewal through the challenges of life.  A lifesaver, so to speak.

Now...pass the crayons!

Across the Room ~ A Friday Find

Sitting in my favorite chair...watching some episodes of the Bible on Netflix...I looked up across the room.  On the piano sits a clay pot...not unlike what might have been carried to the well for water in Bible times.

This pot is faded, cracked, and has been broken in two and sealed back together. Still usable.  Ed and I had this pot at the front of the church at our wedding...representing our lives with our past mistakes, hurts, wounds, pain.  Our brokenness.  I noticed that the rose I had saved and dried from Ed's mother's gravesite when she died in April had been placed inside of one of the cracks.

And I found beauty in it all...

I rediscovered and was reminded that it is through the challenges, the interruptions, the hurts, the darkness, the losses that we are changed.  It is the stress and heat of these things that refine and conform us into God's desire for us.

Pain and loss...loneliness and despair...are all part of loving and living.  And miracles happen when we choose to trust the One who has all under control.

The greatest opportunities I have had in this life to glorify Him have been a result of my most desperate seasons.

God miraculously restores us to let His beauty shine from our rubble. He uses us in spite of us.

That is a great find!  (Linking up with Kim's Friday Finds.)

Find the Light...

Just a photo taken in the light at our dinner table in the morning.  Those in Kim Klassen's newest class, Be Still 52, are encouraged to pay attention to the light in our house at different times of the day.  Also linking up with Texture Tuesday.

Have a great day!

Who Let the Dogs Out?

Well, the boys' shoes were waiting for them...

and after a high carb breakfast of pancakes made by Grandpa Ed...they were in the ZONE.

The Paws for a Cause part of the Kids Are #1 Run at Akron Children's Hospital!

To practice leading Bruno and Arthur, we had Noah and Elijah walk the canal route up to the starting line.

Edster, aka the Dogfather, helped get the dogs and boys ready!

But first things first...FACE PAINTING!

But then it was Oooh-ing and Ahhh-ing over the dogs.  Here's Ollie...whose mother was a pure bred Pembroke Welsh Corgi who was gone for three days and later gave birth.  Obviously she had a fling with a Golden Retriever! (smile)

There were too many to photograph!

 

 Then there was relaxing prior to the START...

And the seven of us were off...

Getting passed up by dogs and walkers with longer legs.

That's okay, I'll take our team ANY day!

Focus on Simplicity

Today I'll just let the photos and the quotes speak for themselves. I focused on three words: white, round, minimal for the third week of Kim's new class.  We're being challenged to find our own style...which evolves over time.