2020 Vision Board & Moving Forward

2020 Vision Board & Moving Forward

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."                   Soren Kierkegaard

Generally I make a vision board for my word of the year earlier in the season, usually in February or March. It's a way of visualizing my intentions for my word through the year. But this has not been anything like a normal year. So, instead of just a board looking at the year ahead, I am both looking back  to see how I have lived out my word, and then looking ahead at where I feel called to go in the rest of the year. This is our theme this month in our Living Your Word of the Year Facebook Group, looking back in order to move forward. This is a regular practice for me. A few times a year at least, I will read back through my written journals and my art journals to see where I am in this journey of spiritual transformation. And generally, God will use this time of looking back as a time for me to reflect and evaluate where I need to focus. I wrote about the start of this looking back process in my post two weeks ago, which you can read here. 

I have made a vision board for my word of the year for quite a few years. In fact, it's one of my favorite practices of the year. I usually put them on an artist canvas and display them in my home studio/office. They are visual reminders of my journey.

I begin by going through my collection of magazine pages and other ephemera that I have torn out and saved because the image or words stood out. I enjoy going through my magazines every few months and tearing out the pages, and the bonus is it keeps my magazine baskets from overflowing! Even though I read a lot online these days, I have not lost the enjoyment of holding a magazine in my hand and leafing through it.

Next I like to cover the edges of my canvas with gesso covered book pages. I do this in part because I don't frame the canvases and the papers add a subtle decoration to the edges.

Over the past few weeks I have looked back over the beginning of the year, and especially the months since we began experiencing the crisis of the coronavirus pandemic. In recent weeks the horrifying events of racial injustice that have taken place have been added to my time of reflection. All of this is in my heart and mind as I began to think about what the future may look like. There is so much to think about right now and so much that is unknown about how life will be lived in the months, and maybe even years, ahead of us. Below I have some reflection questions that helped me and that may be of use for you as well.

• Re-connect with your "why" for selecting your word for this year. Have the circumstances of the past few months changed your "why" at all?
• How have your life values led you through this time?
• What have you held onto? What have you had to let go of?
• As you look ahead, what are you sensing God calling you to? What might He be calling you to leave behind as you move forward? What might He be calling you to keep in your future life from these days?
• What have you been thankful for?
• What has brought joy? What has caused fear or disappointment?
• What do you need more of? What do you need less of?
• Are there areas in your life right now that require more trust in God and His promises?
• How has your faith been? On shaky ground? On a firm foundation? What has this time of crisis shown you about your relationship with God?

Let me also offer two great questions I read recently. The first was in a newsletter from Shelly Miller. She is an author and has an online group called The Sabbath Society. Here is her question for reflection:

"If the previous chapters of your life prepare you for what lies ahead, how might God be using your right now circumstances as preparation for what comes next?"

The other question was posted in our Facebook group last week and comes from Suzi Stringfield Denis.

"How is God using this time to transform me?" 

This week our prompt in our Living Your Word of the Year group is to spend some time reflecting on the past few months and thinking about where God may be leading you now with your word. Try making a vision board from that time of reflection. This project may take some time to work through. In the next few weeks we will offer more reflection questions that will help us evaluate the goals and intentions we set at the beginning of the year, and seeking God, will help us move forward in the second half of the year.

My vision board process surprises me each time. As I go through the process of cutting out letters and leafing through magazine pages I don't immediately see how they will come together. But once I start laying things out on the canvas the pieces start to fall nicely into place.

I hope you'll give a vision board for your word of the year a try. If you do, please share it in our Facebook group and/or on Instagram with the hashtag #livingyourword2020.

Join us in the Living Your Word Community

My friends Bernice Hopper, and Valerie Sjodin, and I share insights through blog posts for creatively living a word of the year. In our Facebook group, we encourage one another by posting questions and prompts to inspire living out a word focus, keeping a journal etc. It is a safe place to ask for prayer and support. If you would like to connect with others in creative ways about living your word, you can ask to join our Living Your Word of the Year 2020 by clicking on the link below.

URL for Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/livingyourwordoftheyear/ 

Hashtag for Instagram:  #livingyourword2020

Check out their blogs:

Bernice: https://newlycreative.com

Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/ 

A Season for Reflection

In the Everyday Journal group I belong to we are exploring the season we are in. I am using the contrasts in Ecclesiastes 3 metaphorically as way to examine my heart and mind in the season of life I am in. Unfortunately my month got very busy and I did not get to do a blog post for each verse as I had planned. So, this post will give the reflection questions for the remaining verses for anyone who is interested in using them. 

Photo by Aaron Burden, unsplash.com

"A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance." Ecclesiastes 3:4

• Are there areas in your life where you have not given yourself time of permission to grieve properly? Any losses that you mourn? Any heart aches that you rushed by, covered over, moved past without allowing yourself time to experience grief?
• Ask God to help you see those wounded places and to help you give them the time and space needed to grieve them.
• What needs to be celebrated in your life? 
• What has brought you joy?
• Take time to experience and express gratitude to God for those things and times.

"A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them." Ecclesiastes 3:5a

Scattering and gathering stones reminds me of the altars that would be built in the Old Testament as a way of remembering what God had done. Read Deuteronomy 27:1-8 where God told his people to build an altar of stones to remember His commandments.

• Are there times and events in your life where God protected you, rescued you, carried you through? 
• Do you need to do something significant to help you remember them and to remind you of God's faithfulness? Maybe an art journal page or a piece of art or even a sculpture of stones in your garden.
• Or maybe you have allowed things or habits in your life to become idols and you need to scatter them and return to fully worshiping God alone. Confess these things to God.
• What spiritual practices might you engage in to help you focus on God?
• A practice I did at a retreat one time was to write something I was struggling with on a stone, then leave that stone somewhere as a symbol of letting go of it and giving it to God in trust. What do you need to let go of?

"A time to embrace and a time to refrain." Ecclesiastes 3:5b

This makes me think of spiritual disciplines. Some are disciplines of engagement - embracing times of Bible study, prayer, worship, serving others, etc. Others are disciplines of abstinence - refraining from things in order to draw closer to God with things like fasting, silence, simplicity, serving in secret, etc.

• Is this a season where you need to make more time to embrace the things that draw you closer to God? 
• Do you need to deepen your time in the Word or prayer? 
• Do you need to focus more on serving others rather than simply being focused on your own needs?
• Do you need to refrain from something for a time in order to be reconnected with your dependence on God? 
• Do you need to fast from food or social media or spend some time in solitude?

"A time to search and a time to give up." Ecclesiastes 3:6a

• This seems like a great connection to reflection. Ask God to search your heart. (Psalm 139:23-24)
• What does God reveal to you? Are your thoughts more Christ-centered or self-centered?
• Are you searching for things in life to fulfill you that God alone can fulfill?
• What might you need to let go of or give up in order to trust and rest in God alone?

“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” ~Augustine

"A time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend." Ecclesiastes 3:6b-7a
This makes me think of Jesus talking in Matthew 6:19-20 about treasure: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." 

• What areas of your life and which practices help you keep a kingdom focus?
• Where do you need to throw away the things that are earthly and getting too much of your focus, that may be taking your time away from God? 
• What areas of your life need to be built up or mended so that you "treasure God, investing your life in what God is doing and devoting yourself to the good of other people"?

Author Jan Johnson, in her book Abundant Simplicity, says that focusing on the messages the culture feeds us can often take our minds off of Kingdom matters. We need to look to Jesus and "subtly replace them with thoughts of treasuring God, investing our life in what God is doing and devoting ourselves to the good of other people."

"A time to be silent and a time to speak." Ecclesiastes 3:7b

• Sometimes it is best to not speak our minds if doing so may offend or cause someone harm. Ask God to reveal any areas where He may be calling you to silence your voice.
• Proverbs 31:8-9, however, call us to speak for the voiceless and destitute. Are there things in life that scream injustice to you? How might you speak up to help benefit those things or people?
• Do you need to refrain from gossip or unkind talk? Do you need to defend those being spoken ill of?
• Do you need to practice giving kind words more often?

"A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace." Ecclesiastes 3:8

• I personally struggle with loving others well, yet feel the clear call of God to do so. Ask God to show you who you may not be acting in loving ways toward. Spend time praying for them and asking God to help you love them.
• What does it look like to love your neighbors? 
• What are some steps you might take to show them love?
• How might you counter the hate and division that seems to permeate our world?
• How can you share God's love in your community today?

Thank you for journeying through a season of reflection with me this month. I pray that you will find, as I have, that reflection on all things - good and bad - helps us draw near to God, who has "made everything beautiful in its time". Ecclesiastes 3:11

Previous posts of reflection on Ecclesiastes 3 can be found here, here, here, and here.

A Time to Build

A Time to Build

In the Everyday Journal group I belong to we are exploring the season we are in. I am using the contrasts in Ecclesiastes 3 metaphorically as way to examine my heart and mind in the season of life I am in. Today we come to the second contrast in verse 3.

"To everything there is a season....A time to tear down and a time to build up." Ecclesiastes 3:3

What comes to mind when I see tear down and build up is boundaries. Personal boundaries are the defenses we create - consciously or subconsciously - to protect ourselves emotionally. Like fences put up around a property to protect one physically, we build walls around the things or people that have hurt us in the past. Many times these boundaries are built when we are children, long before we have the capability to examine people and situations intellectually and then determine a course of action. As a result, in adulthood these boundaries are often unnoticed and happen automatically in response to a situation or a particular person. Our boundaries are often triggered, not something we do as a conscious action or choice.

As we mature, and often with the help of other people in our lives, we become aware of these automatic response boundaries and begin the work of determining which are healthy and which are unhealthy. It is often in marriage or other very close relationships that these boundaries are revealed. I grew up in a home with one parent who was an alcoholic and the other who was emotionally insecure. As a result of the dysfunction in my family I learned to put up boundaries at a very young age. In my adult years, at various seasons and stages of my life, I have learned to recognize the boundaries I built as a child, and some I added as an adult, and began the journey - the lifelong journey - of tearing down the unhealthy ones and building up or producing healthy ones. 

Not all boundaries are unhealthy. For example, when my dad was still alive I felt it necessary to protect my young daughter from unhealthy behavior. So, I got up the nerve to tell my dad that if he drank too much when we were with him, then we would leave or ask him to leave if we were at my house. To me, it was a healthy decision to not allow my daughter to be exposed to the emotional roller coaster that went along with overindulgence in alcohol. Often I find I must limit my time with and exposure to people who drain me too much. Often these are people who themselves have unhealthy boundaries, unable to see where they end and another person begins, often becoming overly dependent on other people resulting in unhealthy relationships. Knowing myself and knowing the activities and people that energize or drain me, enables me to build healthy boundaries.

For reflection:

What boundaries have been built in your life? Defensiveness is often an indicator.
Ask God to reveal which of these walls you have built are unhealthy.
Which ones might God be prompting you to tear down? To trust in Him instead of self-protection?
How might your risk taking those walls down?
Or where might you need to build some healthy boundaries? Healthy relational or time boundaries?

"When life hurts us, it’s easy to put walls, rationalizing that God allows them so we can protect ourselves. But self-protection is not the same as God-protection. Self-protection keeps the emphasis on us—on self. The walls we build after we are hurt are not always God’s spiritual protection for our hearts." 

~Esther Fleece, No More Faking Fine, Zondervan Pubplishing

My month has been much busier than I had anticipated and I was not able to do as much with this project as I had planned. So my next post will simply be reflection questions to go with the rest of the contrasts in Ecclesiastes 3.

For November our Everyday Journal group will be practicing gratitude with a guide from Bernice Hopper.

Join Our Inspirational Facebook Group

Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I are using one journal to record events, experiences and relationships and  to explore our word’s meaning in visual and fun ways. We are each blogging about our experiences and our art. If you would like to connect with others about creatively organizing your word, your ideas, thoughts, prayers, events, or your projects all in one journal, you are invited to join our Facebook group: Everyday Journals – Living Your Word of the Year.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/203309083575277/

Hashtags on Instagram: #everydayjournals2018, #livingyourword2018

Check out the other blogs:

Bernice: http://www.newlycreative.com/

Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/ 

Lent Words Day 2:Turn

"Direct me in the path of your commands,
    for there I find delight.
Turn my heart toward your statutes
    and not toward selfish gain.
Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
    preserve my life according to your word."

Psalm 119:35-37

I originally wasn't planning on doing a post today, but today's word and this verse struck me. In Hebrew the word turn is also the word used for repent.(Shuwb, pronounced shuv). Although it is not the same word used for turn in the above passage, it carries the same meaning. To repent is to turn away from sin and to turn your heart to God. It's a fitting word for this day after Ash Wednesday when we are reminded of our sinfulness. This awareness is meant to help us turn back to God - toward His statutes, His laws, His ways. Take some time to turn your heart toward God today.

If today is the first day you are reading about Lent Words 2018: A Creative Challenge Through the Season of Lent,  then I invite you to join us. There is a private Facebook group where you can join the conversation:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/LentWords/

Another group I am co-leading this year is called Everyday Journals ~ Living Your Word of the Year.

Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I are using one journal to record events, experiences and relationships and  to explore our word’s meaning in visual and fun ways. We are each blogging about our experiences and our art. If you would like to connect with others about creatively organizing your word, your ideas, thoughts, prayers, events, or your projects all in one journal, you are invited to join our Facebook group: Everyday Journals – Living Your Word of the Year.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/203309083575277/

Hashtags on Instagram: #everydayjournals2018, #livingyourword2018

Check out the other blogs:

Bernice: http://www.newlycreative.com/

Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/

Our Journey Through Lent Begins

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lent Season. Today we begin a journey of reflection and sacrifice, mourning and celebration, abstinence and engagement. We set aside this season of Lent as a time of remembering the sacrifice of Christ, and in turn committing to sacrifice as well, following in His steps. We practice spiritual disciplines, not as a way to gain God's favor and holiness, but as a way to mourn our sinfulness, lest we take for granted the gift of grace through salvation in Christ. Today, if we participate in an Ash Wednesday service, we will receive ashes on our foreheads in the shape of a cross to remind us that there, on the cross, Jesus paid the price for our sin to redeem us.

"For you are dust and to dust you will return." Genesis 3:19

Throughout the Bible ashes or dust are used symbolically of mourning, death and repentance. 2 Samuel 3:19, Esther 4:1-3, Job 42:6, Ezekiel 27:30-31, Matthew 11:21 are just a few examples of how ashes/dust are used. Author Ruth Haley Barton explains the significance of Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent well:

"Ash Wednesday also initiates a season of acknowledging our sinfulness. In very intentional ways, we invite God to search us and know us and (eventually) to lead us into resurrection life. The ashes marking our foreheads carry the same meaning contained in the Old Testament practice of covering oneself with ashes: they are an outward sign of an inward repentance and mourning as we become aware of our sin. This, too, is good for us because we live in so much denial. Facing our sin in the shadow of Christ’s cross and impending resurrection is the healthiest way to deal with our sin.

The inner dynamics of Lent have to do with fasting or abstaining from the ways we normally distract ourselves from what’s really going on in our lives spiritually—the reality of our sin and the deeply patterned behaviors that keep us from our calling to follow Christ. We allow some of the external trappings of our lives to be stripped away so that we can find our true identity and calling in God once again. We acknowledge the subtle temptations to which we are prone rather than pretending we are beyond temptation. We face the spiritual reality of the battle being waged for our very souls."

I have not participated in the Lent practice of fasting or self-denial in the past. But this year as I have prayed and looked at what God's Spirit has been pressing into in my life, I decided to participate by engaging in some practices that in so doing are actually a practice in abstinence. Over the past year God has enabled me to experience some healing in some areas of my life. Emotional and relational areas that became damaged as a result of my not dealing well with loss and disappointment over a period of time. As is often the case, when you become healthier in one area it opens your eyes to other areas that need restoration. For me, I have become aware of a lack of loving others well in some areas of my life. I wrote the other day about how spending some time studying Hebrews 12:1-3 opened my eyes to the reality that being "weighed down and entangled" keeps me from living in the flow (my word for the year) of the Spirit. How I react to people and not  loving others well is something that weighs me down. So, for this Lent season I am going to try to abstain from the feelings and habits that get in the way of loving others. I'm going to engage in kindness and extend grace and forgiveness in those times when I feel inclined to have my way or feel defensive or the need to be right. I'm going to be asking myself questions like, what do I need to give up to be more loving and what do I need to practice? I have not totally figured out what this looks like or even what to call it, but I feel the need to practice it. To deny myself in those times when ego or pride want to have their way and instead to practice humility and kindness. 

So, how are you practicing sacrifice in this season of Lent? Are you participating in Lent in any way this year? 

Here on my blog I'll be posting a few devotional writings/Bible studies each week surrounding Lent words. I have also invited some fellow sojourners to write guest posts in the weeks ahead. On this post from last week you'll find a list of 40 words with corresponding Bible verses or passages. We have a group of people who are responding creatively to these Lent Words for 2018. They will be sharing their responses in a private Facebook group or on Instagram.

Join us, it's simple:

• Follow this blog by putting your email address in the box in the right hand column to be notified when new posts are published
• Join the Lent Words 2017 Facebook group where you can share your art and ideas and join the conversation through the Lent season. www.facebook.com/groups/LentWords. 
• Share on Instagram and other social media with the hashtag #lentwords2018.

Introducing Lent Words 2018

Until a few years ago I did not participate in observance of the Lenten season. It was one of those traditions I had written off as an empty ritual from my childhood days in the Catholic Church. I feel the need to remind you readers that my intent is not to offend anyone by labeling Lent as an empty ritual. Rather, it is my intent, however, to be open and honest in sharing my story. My perspectives on religion from my childhood experiences are a big part of my story - a part of my story I am working to redeem as an adult. So, following the renewal and life I have found in observing Advent over the years, and choosing to follow the church calendar this year, I have decided that this year the Lent  season would become a part of my journey.

Through some discussion in the Advent Words community this past month I decided to do Lent Words in a similar fashion to how I did Advent Words. With some contributions from some of the members of the Advent Words group, I have put together a list of 40 words with a Scripture passage or two to accompany them. Lent is actually 46 days long, but in following the traditional mode Sundays are not included. The early church considered Sundays as non-fasting days. The word prompts are designed to 1.) get us into the Bible each day with words that are significant to this season of repentance and reflection, and 2.) help promote creativity as another way (or spiritual discipline) to draw close to God and participate in the season.  You can choose to connect this word to whatever form of creativity you like - art journaling, collage, memory keeping, planner art, photography, poetry, painting - the creative practices to choose from are endless! You choose how you would like to participate. You choose how often as well!

Would you like to join us? It's simple:

• Follow this blog by putting your email address in the box in the right hand column. The full list of Lent Words is below. Then there will be blog posts at least twice a week through Lent sharing my art and my thoughts. Some of those blog posts will be from  guests as well! 
• Join the Lent Words 2017 Facebook group where you can share your art and ideas and join the conversation through the Lent season. www.facebook.com/groups/LentWords. 
• Share on Instagram and other social media with the hashtag #lentwords2018.
• In the days before the Lent season begins reflect and prepare: choose the creative form you will use for your daily practice. Make a journal if that fits your creative form.

If you would like to download a PDF of the word list you can do so here or access it in the Facebook group.

In keeping with my plan to use one journal for the year, I will be putting my Lent Words art in my Everyday Journal. I am a part of a group for that as well! We are sharing our journeys and our art as we move through the year: Everyday Journals - Living Your Word of the Year.

Retreat and Surrender

Isaiah 30:15

Rest. 

Repentance - or "returning".

Quietness.

Trust....

Last weekend I attended a retreat called Refine. It wasn't what I expected. Most retreats I have attended in the past had sessions and workshops throughout the day and we were filled with information to process in our downtime. This retreat had limited information or content and was filled with downtime, a two-hour art journaling session, worship and some guided reflection time. At first I was a bit put off by the lack of content - isn't that what we pay for on a retreat, after all? But as it turned out, the way of this retreat was just what I needed. It was just what God had in store for me.

I have been in a slump, a dry place, especially creatively, since late January. We dealt with a family crisis throughout the month of February which drained me emotionally. Add to that a week of illness in the midst of it and I have struggled to regain any sort of creative energy. And then the time for this retreat came along. On Friday evening Kris Camealy, our retreat host, laid out the weekend and shared her heart for our time. Using Psalm 66:1-12, and especially verse 12, Kris laid out the theme for our weekend as "a place of abundance".

"For you, God, tested us;

    you refined us like silver....

we went through fire and water,

    but you brought us to a place of abundance."

Psalm 66:10 & 12

She called us to open our hands and release whatever we are holding onto that is holding us back from experiencing the abundance and freedom God has for us. On Friday evening and early Saturday morning I spent a good amount of time reflecting and journaling about this passage and the state of my mind and heart. And slowly I began to feel filled and rested. And then came the art journaling session led by Christine Hiester. 

Oh, the art journaling session.....Christine started  in a time of prayer and reflection to lead us into our art journaling time continuing the theme of open hands. My creative slump began to lift as ideas and images began to fill my mind. We filled our journal page, writing down the things that are holding us back, keeping us stuck, not allowing us to move in God's freedom. Then we covered our writing with paint and paper and and let the art flow! I felt so released and filled with creative energy! When the two hour session ended I quickly ate lunch and returned to the art room to keep going. When the afternoon art session began I simply switched rooms and made art until dinner time, feeling so refreshed by the creativity that filled my heart and my mind. I felt restored!

Over the past months, as I felt lost in this emotionally draining time, I didn't do the things I normally do to process life - journaling, art, blogging - I even had to miss scheduled times with my mentor during this time. I felt stuck and couldn't focus for long on these things that usually bring me life and energy. But this weekend in the midst of pine trees and the sacred surroundings of a retreat center that was once a convent; in the midst of a community of women, times of reflection, worship and downtime, God pulled me out of my slump and restored me. I am refreshed. My ability to journal and make art and blog has been renewed and I feel like...Me. A rested and restored me.

Since early January the word surrender, or synonyms such as let go or release, have been popping up everywhere. In songs, in books or blog posts I read, in Sunday morning messages. It popped up again at the retreat and became a theme for my weekend. 

On Friday night Kris said:

"The way to a place of abundance is through surrender."

My word for this year is "whole", and I have had a sense through the first few months of the year that "surrender" is going to play a big part in living out this word.

Through this past week as I have reflected on the retreat, I have had a deeper awareness of things I have known about myself. Sometimes God has to tell me things a few times before they sink into my heart. Repeated, gentle, loving reminders. My creative slunps are usually not about a lack of creativity. They are usually an indicator of a deeper draining within me. I have become aware of how intricately connected my spiritual, emotional and creative health and energy are. When I'm drained emotionally I find it difficult to write in my journal and read the Bible, and even at times to pray. When I'm not writing in my journal and connecting to God through His Word and prayer, I find that my emotional and creative energy are impacted. So, the best prescription for me to remain healthy is to keep my heart and mind connected to God through His Word and prayer and writing in my journal, and then processing it all through art.

"Come and hear, all who fear God,
And I will tell of what He has done for my soul." Psalm 66:16

We did a great exercise while at the retreat. We were asked to write down the baggage we brought with us onto pebbles. Things that were holding us back, things we didn't want to take back home with us, We were then told to leave them somewhere in the retreat grounds...leave them and don't take them back home.

Rest

Repentance

Quietness

Trust

Salvation

Strength

Surrender

Whole

Time Between the Old and the New

I really love this time of year. For two weeks life slows down for me. I enjoy taking time to look back over the past year and reflect on the happenings of my life, while at the same time looking for the direction God is pulling me in for the new year. I love the crisp, clean edges of a fresh new year, a chance for a fresh start. A year full of empty and clean white spaces on the new calendar.

Shelly Miller, of the Sabbath Society, calls this time at the end of the year, "Sabbath margin - a sacred stretch of time between what was and what is yet to be". What an apt description of wonderful time of year. As I move from a year of "Rest" - my 2016 word for the year, it seems that the word "restoration" is calling me to spend the next year journeying with it. Restoration feels like it is flowing out of my time in rest. So I'm sticking with it. Let's see what the new year holds!

"Sabbath margin - a sacred stretch of time between what was and what is yet to be."

But I'm not quite ready to leave 2016 behind. This past Monday the day was overcast but in the mid-50's -  a treat in the Midwest winter! So we decided to get out of the house a bit and went to explore our city's newest park Middlegrounds Metropark. This park is located in downtown Toledo on the banks of the Maumee River on ground that used to house the roundhouse for railroad shipyards. So while it is on the river, it is also planted in the middle of old industrial buildings, which made for some great scenery for those of us who love paint-chippy, rusty vintage things - including buildings! On our way out we passed the old Oliver House Hotel which now houses The Maumee Bay Brewing Company and a few other restaurants. They have great old-school advertisements painted on the brick exterior. Enjoy the photos and have a Happy New Year!

Advent's Arrival

Luke 2:1-20

"In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. 

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, 

      and on earth peace to those on 

          whom his favor rests.” 

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told."

Advent has arrived amidst the busyness of the holiday season from Thanksgiving to Christmas. There is so much going on in this season - family dinners and shopping, parties and gift wrapping, school events, travel plans, and more shopping. In the midst of this busyness Advent is a call for us to slow down and reflect on the coming Christ. In the above passage, Mary gives us a picture of taking time out and slowing down to take these events deep into our hearts.

"But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." Luke 2:19

As we read this passage one little word reaches out to us to slow down: "But". Mary pauses and takes time to reflect and ponder on the news the angels had shared with the shepherds. In the midst of this activity Mary takes time to slow down in order to  take these things deep into her heart.

Engaging in intentional practices during this season offers us a way to slow it down. When we do this we "make room in our hearts for Jesus to fill us", as author Kris Camealy says in her Advent devotional Come, Lord Jesus. 

Over the past few years I have come to appreciate this habit of intentionally slowing down in the Advent season. In fact, I think this practice has helped me be intentional in making time in my days and weeks for slowing down throughout the year. Busyness can so often creep in and take over our lives without our being aware of it. An intentional habit of slowing down keeps our eyes open to the effects that busyness can have on our lives, our health and our relationships. For me, this slowing down and making room in my heart for Jesus to fill it, comes through practices of reading and making art.

This season I'm reading Come, Lord Jesus: the Weight of Waiting by Kris Camealy (find it on Amazon here). I made an art journal to record my thoughts from the daily readings (tutorial for my Advent art journal is here). Kris' daily devotional readings run from December 1 -25 so I'll start posting my daily pages on December 1st. I'm also participating in a book club for Kris' book on Christina Hubbard's blog, Creative and Free (click on title).