Week 3: The Written Word (part 1)

Edited to add: I mistakenly posted this to the Art Chick blog today instead of here.  And I was so excited to be back in the groove... oy.

I apologize for not keeping up the challenges over the last two weeks. We've had a bought of strep throat, friends in from Maryland, a new nephew born, a trip to Indianapolis, Rusty's mom visiting from Maryland.

I'm so glad to be back to thinking about the connections between faith and art and how they can benefit our relationships with God and with each other.

I fill you with Naming.
Be!
Be, butterfly and behemoth
be galaxy and grasshopper
star and sparrow
you matter
you are
be!
Be caterpillar and comet
Be porcupine and planet
sea sand and solar system
sing with us
dance with us
rejoice with us
for the glory of creation
seagulls and seraphim
angle worms and angel host,
chrysanthemum and cherubim
(O cherubim.)
Be!
Sing for the glory of the living and the loving
the flaming of creation
sing with us
dance with us
be with us.
Be!
- Madeleine L'Engle, A Wind in the Door

So this week is all about the written word. Quotes and book passages and song lyrics and poems and whatever other words gathered together in one place that make you smile or bring you closer to your Creator or give you hope that there is more to all of this than what we're living day to day. Look around and see what you can find. It's up to you whether you want to find one item or multiple items that give you the same idea. I just want you to find something that speaks to you.

Anon, to sudden silence won, in fancy they pursue the dream-child moving through a land of wonders wild and new, in friendly chat with bird or beast and half believe it's true... ~ Lewis Carroll

After you find your something, I want you to start gathering ephemera that relates to your words. For example, old costume jewelry you don't wear anymore or magazine images that give you the same feeling as your words do. You can use anything - old tickets, a pretty rock you find on the ground, pieces of wrapping paper or wallpaper, old greeting cards, a charm that never made it onto a necklace or bracelet, leaves or blades of grass, keys... I've even kept random tags off of clothing I've bought just because the design and colors on the tag catch my eye. I just want you to gather up some small, free or inexpensive things that give you the same feeling inside as your words do. Try to keep these things relatively light-weight though they don't have to be flat; some of the things I mentioned, like keys or rocks, are fine but I wouldn't go super huge or heavy this first time around.

Our Creator would never have made such lovely days and have given us the deep hearts to enjoy them unless we were meant to be immortal ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

So that's this week's challenge. We're going to take this week and build on it next week in part 2. But I thought since this may be a new experience for some of you I'd give you a full week to gather your fun stuff before we start playing with it.

Listen to the MUSN'TS, child

Listen to the DON'TS

Listen to the SHOULDN'TS, the IMPOSSIBLES, the WON'TS

Listen to the NEVER HAVES then listen close to me

ANYTHING can happen, child.

ANYTHING can be!

Shel Silverstein

(P.S. I'm using the "Be" passage from A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle, in case you're wondering if I'm playing along too...)