questions

"The antidote to your past

is your future."

Graham Cooke

     A friend helped me realize that sometimes I don't need answers to my questions... sometimes I need better questions. My friend suggested asking God for questions- specific and personal- questions to wrestle with. As our group was praying, a question entered my Spirit... a question that took my breath-

'What if you heard God say,

"ENOUGH!" 

?

the knowing

Carlos Robson- Amazing Grace

One of my students sent me a link to the video below.

It speaks for itself.

Simple Gifts

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come 'round right.

Simple Gifts

1848

Elder Joseph Brackett

Two questions collided this week, seemingly unrelated, and yet... most of our walk through life involves connecting the dots between the 'unrelated'.  

Question One: 

'What motivates you?'

I was still considering question one when, days later, I was asked question two:

'What do blind people dream?'

Motivation. Blindness. Dreams.

Here is a story about blind men who were motivated by, what some might consider, a dream-

Matthew 9:27-34

As Jesus left the house, he was followed by two blind men crying out, "Mercy, Son of David! Mercy on us!" When Jesus got home, the blind men went in with him. Jesus said to them, "Do you really believe I can do this?" They said, "Why, yes, Master!" He touched their eyes and said,

"Become what you believe."

The Message

What motivates you?

What do you dream?

Become what you believe.

Many of the best gifts are simple. Here is a video by Vituc, recorded with an iPhone-

The Creative Life Conference

"The best way to love each other

is to listen to each other."

Michael Card

     The Creative Life Conference at Glen Eyrie last week was an amazing time of fellowship, music, art and worship. Hearing Michael Card and Phil Keaggy play together in an intimate setting cannot be explained- it is a moment that must be experienced to understand. For me, as good as the music was, the highlight of the conference was watching new friends in the visual art workshops produce something that surprised even themselves- their voice expressed through art. Here is a sampling of their work:

To all who attended- Blessings!

Consider

Consider

Teresa Carter

2010

Oil and Mixed Media on Birch Panel

36” x 36”

Eighteen houses - newspaper birdhouses made from clippings that speak of the housing market- hang from decaying branches while a bird keeps watch over her home.

Is this two perspectives within one composition or the perspective of one living within the assurance of a God who sees and cares?

“Consider the birds of the air,” Jesus said. “They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they?” Jesus' question answers one of the questions posed by God to Job centuries earlier. “Who prepares for the raven its nourishment, when its young cry to God, and wander about without food?” Job 38:41.

The mottled colors of the houses and branches reflect the uncertainties the world has to offer while a bird is framed with the colors and symbols of life - cherry blossoms above and eggs below, also representing new life and rebirth.

Daily newspapers are ephemeral- manna for the masses who seek answers to the wrong questions, solace from the ever-gnawing anxiety: What if...?

Most fears never manifest in a visible reality. But, sometimes they do. Sometimes banks foreclose and families are homeless. Sometimes vehicles are repossessed and caretakers are unemployed. What happens when a fear becomes visible? Is God still God?

In Matthew 14, Simon Peter walked on water toward Jesus until “he noticed the strong wind.” It is the force of the wind that determines the height of the waves, and the wind comes from God. The devil cannot live in the heart of a Christian but he can play in his mind and his 'what-ifs' can cause believers to focus on the height of the waves instead of the source of the wind.

The writer of Ecclesiastes said:

Look at what God has done: No one can straighten what he has bent. When life is good, enjoy it. But when life is hard, remember: God gives good times and hard times, and no one knows what tomorrow will bring.

Ecclesiastes 7:13,14 NCV

Consider is a visible reminder of a promise: “Consider the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they?”  

God Will Provide the Lamb

    "Behold, the Lamb of God

who takes away the sin of the world!"

John, the Baptizer, upon seeing Jesus

      My friend, Deborah Mrantz, challenged me in a email. She wrote, 'Have you considered doing something (visually) with Abraham?' So, while driving, this came to me-

I imagined a series of three images- A knife, thorns and a ram's horn.

I roughed out a quick version on corrugated paper-

God Will Provide The Lamb

Oil on Corrugated Paper

The layers within the Hebrew language run deep, forming a network that both inspires and defies human comprehension. Within the verses of text the individual words speak; within the words the individual characters have a voice.

In Genesis, chapter 22, Abraham and his son Isaac are climbing a mountain when Isaac asks, "Where is the lamb for the sacrifice?" Abraham replies,

"God will provide the lamb."

In my minds-eye I saw the Hebrew lettering for 'the lamb' amidst the thorns, between the knife and the horn. It was as I painted these characters that I focused on their nature as letterforms. The expression 'the lamb' is constructed with three characters: 

The two outer characters are both the letter Hey, making the sound of a breath:

Originally, the character symbolized two outstretched arms.

The character says, 'Behold!' 

During a Jewish wedding ceremony, the couple whispers to each other, "Behold (hey), I will try with all my being to be present for you."

(from The Book of Letters by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner).

The name of the character in the center of 'the lamb' is

sin:

To the ancients, the character symbolized teeth, meaning to devour or consume.

As I meditated on the letters and their meanings, 'the lamb' became pictured to me hebraically as sin, enclosed, consumed and destroyed between the outstretched arms of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit-

the three-in-one God who promises, with all His being, to be present for me.