Spent the weekend with my spiritual direction group studying Thomas Merton and exploring how we personally may be moving from our false-self to our true-self. Great time of personal reflection and deepening my understanding of the transformation that is taking place in my life.

When I feel the "pressure" that I'm not quite where I want to be or feel like I need to be, to stay up with some imaginary holy person, I fall back to Merton's quote. . .

::Let us never forget

that we will never be anything

but a beginner on this journey::

(my paraphrase version)

I breathe more easily and rest in the Spirit and continue the dance with joy.

wwKids - K6 Art Studio

This morning I received this email about the K6 Art Studio.

"This past weekend, I was so blessed to serve in the Art Studio with the 3rd/4th graders.
As you know, we have been focusing on the story of Samuel. We are sharing Samuel's story to teach the children the power and wonder of listening to GOD's voice. In the Art Studio, the kids were making sculptures that reminds them to listen to GOD's voice. Sheryl (Art Studio Director) provided the kids with so many materials to incorporate into their sculpture. They had fabric, yarn, sequins, feathers, piping and more importantly, blank pieces of paper for writing - WORDS. Words, that will remind them of what GOD is speaking to them, in their own personal journey to grow closer to Him.

When we asked the kids to describe what they had created, my eyes were so teary, I couldn’t see the sculptures. Here are a few examples of what I heard:

Owen - Connected his two wires on his sculpture together with piping to "show his connection to GOD"

Dustin - Shaped his two wires into the earth and then covered them with green piping.
He said "he used green to represent peace and the single yellow feather on top, was GOD"

Tyler - Attached a pink ribbon to his wire to represent "his aunt who had died, so he could remember her" and a long purple ribbon to represent "GOD because we cannot see him"

Megan - Shaped her wires into a heart to "show her love for GOD" (Megan was invited here by a friend. It was her first time here!)

As I write this, I am teary eyed again, because I see all our hard work and dedication to our kids being rewarded. . . our kids DO get it and they LOVE Jesus. They understand what GOD's presence in their lives means and how it makes a difference through their relationships. And most importantly, they ARE listening to GOD. (written by Lisamarie Teeters, Shepherd Team Leader)

Yes, what we do makes a difference.

Good things

He fills my life with good things

. . . moonlight reflecting off the snow
. . . our puppy experiencing snow for the first time
. . . a place to gather with friends and family
. . . tucking my kids into warm flannel sheets
. . . clean water to drink
. . . sounds of silence
. . . a job that I love
. . . coffee by the fireplace
. . . a wonderful husband

I love art, I love creating and making things, so I'm mildly disappointed that my son isn't more interested in art. Surprisingly though he LOVES his art teacher at Paragon. Talks about her, says it's his favorite class, but I never seen anything that really supports his talk.

So I was excited that it was my eight-year-old son, Jeff's turn in the WW art studio this weekend. I had taught the previous weekend in the studio and knew it was an awesome setup. When he came out of the studio he handed me his sculpture and said, "this is stupid," my heart sunk. I glanced at his art piece and had to agree, it was not the most creative thing I've ever seen.

Before I left church Sunday, I grapped a another sculpture base and a few things from the art studio. That evening I got out the paint and all the odds and ends - beads, pipe cleaners, paper, hole punchers, glue - recycling supplies and both kids and I played at the kitchen table. Tentatively Jeff began to paint the base and then we bent the wire. I showed Allie how to put beads on the pipe cleaners and then Jeff tried that as well. Both kids wrote words that described their relationship with God and hung them on their sculpture.

At the end of our play session, both kids felt good about what they had created. Jeff even said he wanted to take his sculpture to school to show his art teacher.

I'm thinking that Jeff is more infatuated (sp?) with his art teacher than he is with the art!