week in review

 

joy

This here has been the theme of my week. On Monday, I was having

trouble jumping into the stuff of life. When I asked God what He thought,

I heard, "Joy." So I've been singing The Joy of the Lord is My Strength,

a song I learned as a child. I also transcribed it into a minor key, and it

turns out to be quite lovely in mellow tones. Been singin' that, too. It's a 

good reminder that regardless of life's details, joy is available in God.

I went looking for the biblical underpinnings for the song, and lo and 

behold, if it isn't in Nehemiah! Now, I just love the book of Nehemiah.

It's a story of God's people rebuilding their broken & deserted capital

city in the face of hardship and resistance, under the strong leadership 

of a man who cares about them and loves God.

I was also excited to discover the specific context of this quote. Following 

the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the exiles had just returned to this and other 

Judean cities from Babylon, where they had been deported by 

Nebuchadnezzar. The priests read God's law to them, the Scripture which 

defined their identity and their relationship to each other and to God. 

The people spend the whole day weeping and mourning as they listen to it: 

they have been separated from God's word and the teaching and guidance

of the priests all this time. They have forgotten the law and sinned. 

It is into this initial wave of sadness and regret that these words 

are spoken, the first awareness of wrongdoing. At this point, the priests 

tell them to stop grieving and then basically send them out to celebrate 

Thanksgiving -- there will be a time to repent later, but first the people must rejoice.

So they go have a feast, sharing food with each other and marking the 

day of their return to home and to a life governed by God's ways.

This story highlights the reality that joy is not a result of getting things right.

It is a response to God's sustaining love. He sees us in our darkest places

and calls us to joy in the midst of our sorrow, fear, and exposure. Joy 

emerges through the darkness, not apart from it. It is a call toward the light

which is neither childish nor superficial, not based on our own abilities to succeed.

was it a detour or a doorway?

 

I have hardly picked up a paintbrush in the past year and a half.

I would like to step back into this particular branch of the creative

road, however. As I do, I realize that I have lost fluency. I have

lost a sense of how to go about the various processes. I have very

little hope of things turning out the way I imagine them and even

less hope of finding all the tools I vaguely remember having. 

The journal page above is today's attempt to resurrect this 

long-lost part of my life. It is also a meditation on how 

change comes, and how sometimes, but not always, 

it is a result of our own choices. I wonder if some 

of the directions I've chosen were detours or doorways. Would 

I have chosen differently if I had been listening along the way?

on planting a church

Here's the finished product.

It's a meditation on the process we've been in these past 9 years of 

planting a church (namely, The Village in Tucson, AZ). As I worked on it, 

I was reminded that it is the Holy Spirit who grows (or waters) the church, 

and that our local expression of the church is part of the body of Christ, 

who "makes the whole church fit together perfectly" (Ephesians 3). 

So, while it has been both a joyous and a deeply painful journey, the 

responsibility for success or failure isn't mine. I also liked how 

(this wasn't planned) the petals are paper, but the center of the flower
is a jewel. This seems symbolic to me of the way that over time and space,
the form of the church is changing, falling away and being renewed;
however what it displays is "God's wisdom in its rich variety" (Ephesians 4),
something which is lasting and carries its own weight of glory.

on planting

I think this one's not quite done yet, but I do enjoy watching

these things develop. So here it is.

summer journal #1

I have tried a variety of ways to visually capture the stuff of life over the years, 

and lately have enjoyed perusing the daily drawing work of Teesha Moore and

Geninne Delanine's collage-style planner pages.

So this summer, I have my version of the daily planner/calendar

to record some of what's happening in our lives. Here's the first page spread!

(Click on the image to see a LARGER version)

ash wednesday

isaiah 54

be still

retro journal entry

Here's a journal page from May of 2008, when I was discovering Lombardic Versals. 

I'm on my twelfth day of being sick today, 

and my ability to maintain the basics is slipping -- things on the blog 

might be spotty for a while. Hopefully I'll get my head (and chest cold) 

above water soon. Fortunately, it's a beautiful, rainy day. 

Not bad for lounging around sipping tea.

God speaks

long walk

miniature road trip

Howdy again! This week has been packed to the gills, so to speak.
Is that even an expression? I can't think of anything with gills that
"packs". Fish have gills. They don't pack. They might be stuffed, though,
if they ate too much pond scum. Stuffed to the gills? Sure. That.
Anyway, Elliott's birthday is Saturday, so I've been baking like a fiend.
School started Monday -- I'll post soon on how summer went --
and Adrienne's here from Michigan (yay!). Busy & wonderful days these are.

count your blessings

It's been so hot around here lately that I often find myself

lagging into a state of grouchy hostility. I've been realizing

lately just how good I have it, though, so today I decided

to thank God for the goodness. Here's just a little sampling

of things I'm grateful for, some of them answers to prayer.

the good news and the bad news

happy birthday week, schmookie!

she still likes to wear a hat

This is a first experiment in working personal photos into my artwork. I think my daughter is about 8-months-old here, because she doesn't have the eczema that hit when she started eating solid food. This was one of my favorite little outfits.

baggage check

This is the end product from a former post.

what you need and don't need

archway #2

Here's the finished page! The scrawly writing is

intentionally illegible, but it's a medititation on Psalm

12:5-8, which reads (NLT) "The Lord replies, 'I have seen

violence done to the helpless, and have heard the groans of

the poor. Now I will rise up to rescue them, as they have

longed for me to do.' The Lord's promises are pure, like

silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over.

Therefore, Lord, we know You will protect the oppressed,

preserving them forever from this lying generation, even

though the wicked strut about, and evil is praised throughout

the land." This stood out to me because I forget sometimes

that God is concerned about protecting people who are

suffering. So I overhear stories of suffering and get weighed

down by them -- there's often not much I can do to address

them. It's good to be reminded that God is also aware

and is actively involved. Which I've certainly seen evidence of.