REFLECTIONS ON FAITH & ART

Don't worry. It's nothing tragic or urgent. It's just personal. Wondering how to take God's path for my existence rather than one that may have more to do with my ego and personal feelings. I was telling one of my friends about a totally bizarre answer we had to a prayer we've been praying for almost a year now. Last week we got a phone call from the Fairfield library saying they thought they have something that might belong to us. Having only been there once, maybe twice in the last year and half since we've been back I couldn't imagine what it would be. I thought maybe it was my library card from when my purse was stolen back in 2002. It turned out to be God answering a year-old prayer in an amazingly creative way. We have all of our important documents in one plastic file folder that is usually in a safe place in the house. That folder was taken with me to register Sean for school around this time last year (it has our birth certificates, soc...

So tomorrow I'm tackling laundry. My workroom is right next door to the laundry... closet (calling it a laundry "room" is a bit of a stretch.) But tomorrow, while the laundry cycles, it begins. Mail art. I'm making it and annoying the West Chester postal service by sending it out. Any size, any shape... if it fits the size/weight requirements then I'm tossing it in a mailbox and letting them deal with it (seriously, I heard about someone who sent a message in a coconut and now I'm enthralled.) If you're interested in being added to the list of mail art recipients? Don't be shy - email me at faith.art@gmail.com and make sure to give me your mailing address. You never know what you'll find in your mailbox some day down the road...

Rusty stopped on the way home from the airport Sunday to buy tulips as a "thank you" for me letting him spend half of spring break in Vegas with Erik, Buddy and two other friends.  The tulips were really tight buds Sunday afternoon then sometime Monday they just exploded! I took some photos this afternoon because the colored ones especially are gorgeous, with their green tinged undersides gradually changing to blazing pinks, oranges and yellows.  I also loved the light coming through the blue of the old mason jar.  Then this evening I'm sitting at the table working on my laptop with the flowers in front of me.  They are directly underneath the table light fixture and the pink/orange flowers look like they're votive cups glowing with a lit candle inside.  I literally couldn't think I was so enthralled with the light and color.  I had to take more photos.  Thankfully (for you) I only uploaded nine here.  I took 22 overall and seriously, it's no...

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! Oh, I love pretty words and the flashes of heaven they bring forth.

This isn't supposed to be some big announcement; there is no immediate action being taken other than occasionally scanning the MLS listings and noticing For Sale signs. But Rusty and I are thinking. And praying. And realizing that maybe what we're feeling isn't just emotional. Maybe it's God answering our prayers - to help us see what's important, what's not, what's worth the time and effort and what's not real or valuable in the grand scheme of things. We have our eye on the building in St. Bernard (see here: Faith & Art .) If it goes on the market? We will most likely start praying more specifically. Then based on that, make an offer on the St. Bernard building and put our house up for sale. If it doesn't go on the market, we'll still be praying and keeping our eyes open to options in St. Bernard, Norwood or even North Avondale; an older house that need attention but where we can focus less on upgrading to the next newer and bigg...

I've started this post so many times before but deleted in the name of sanity or common sense or just plain being unrealistic.  Or possibly offending someone.  But I feel like I'm being dishonest anymore.  I have to get this out. I posted this a while back  and talked through whether it was about the building itself or if it would work somewhere else.  It then turned into "can it happen in the suburbs?" and I honestly tried to convince myself it could.  I wanted it to be able to work in the suburbs, so I could still be on the rational side of things.  But the reality is that I don't think it can.  Not on the scale it needs to be.  That I feel God wants it to be.  I feel like my brain works differently than most of the people around here.  Where they see "bigger and better" I see people living with blinders on.  People need to wake up and see the creativity all around them, the creation of the One True Creator.  An...