guiding a girl

I sat beside a young girl on Sunday morning. Her dad was teaching Sunday School and wanted her to sit in the main service, so we sat together taking notes. Her amazement at my copious writing led to a beautiful conversation, which I wrote about here.

The conversation filled me with wonder. I loved telling her dad about it later, feeling as if I was a real partner in the work of raising this child. The night before, the girl and I had been doing crafts. Crafts can be delightful bonding times, but ultimately the bonding reinforces trust that leads to conversations that really matter.

Sometimes those conversations need to happen with a woman. There is nothing like guidance and love from a devoted, attentive dad. Females need healthy input from stable men. But girls and young women also need the companionship and instruction from older women. And I'm to grateful I got to be there for one of those conversations on this week.

Sabbaths

In June I emerged from a long, dark, difficult winter. Creativity had been present, yet somewhat forced. I was waiting, hoping, grieving, and underemployed. But in June, suddenly hope became sight as I suddenly found good work that covers the bottom line and frees me in so many ways.

Steady, gainful work gives new definition to my schedule and new meaning to rest. Sundays have been particularly enjoyable as I (usually) leave the computer off and spend the day with my boyfriend, first at church then with anyone else who crosses our path. Our Sundays are like Wendell Berry's Sabbaths, which poem I discovered on my friend Chelle's teaching blog.

Sabbaths (IV)

The woods and pastures are joyous
in their abundance now
in a season of warmth and much rain.
We walk amidst foliage, amidst
song. The sheep and cattle graze
like souls in bliss (except for flies)
and lie down satisfied. Who now
can believe in winter? In winter
who could have hoped for this?

by Wendell Berry from Given (2005)

Southern Alberta's woods and pastures would be even more "joyous in their abundance" if it would stop raining long enough for the crops to ripen and the farmers to harvest them! Please God, stop the rain.

Martha Mondays: Up or Down?

Do you agree with Martha's conclusions?

Post a comment to win a copy of Notes from Over the Hill.

Draw date and winner announced next Monday.

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A source of family discord that I suspect has been around ever since the invention of indoor plumbing has come to the fore again, this time in the form of email jokes. I refer to that bone of contention, the toilet seat. Should it be up or down? Some men see no reason why it should not be left permanently up, while most women feel this is the ultimate in grossness. Both sexes seem to regard the issue as an attempt to dominate. He: “What difference does it make whether it’s up or down?” She: “If you loved me you’d put it down.” While the connection between a toilet seat and marital devotion may not be clear to a man, to a woman it is entirely logical to rate any and all behaviour in terms of how much she is loved or not loved.

Of course toilet seats should be down. I do not express this opinion out of loyalty to other women or to put down men, but rather because it is the only position that makes sense. We have come a long way since the only attempt at decor in the biffy was the crescent moon on the door. Nowadays we go to considerable expense to have everything coordinated in the modern bathroom. The soap dish, toothbrush holder, and drinking receptacle must match. The toilet paper that replaces the Eaton’s catalogue of yore must unroll from a holder that blends with the register in the floor, and the clothes hamper must not clash with the medicine cabinet. Above all, great care is given to choosing colour-coordinated shower curtains, towels, face cloths, bathmat, tank cover, and toilet lid cover.

Why go to all this trouble and then hide the elegant lid cover? It is impossible to appreciate the beauty of a colour-coordinated lid cover when the lid is up, and since the lid by its very nature is on top of the seat, there is no way it can be down if the seat is up. The whole matter thus becomes academic. This logical reasoning is an attempt on my part to end the controversy once and for all. Whether it is successful remains to be seen.

~ Notes from Over the Hill, pages 18-19

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Do you agree with Martha's conclusions?

Post a comment to win a copy of Notes from Over the Hill.

Draw date and winner announced next Monday.

______________________________________________

Martha Mondays are a weekly feature at the Siretona blog. Siretona Creative is a publishing and production company that empowers women in the arts to build community among generations and nations. Martha’s book was one of our first major projects: a collection of Martha’s articles that “offer a dose of humour and insights to ease doubts as the golden years approach” (Dr. Lynda Haverstock). Sounds pretty intergenerational to us. So we crafted it carefully, including a specially commissioned and researched typeface that would both beautiful and easy to read.

For more information about Martha’s book, visit www.marthamorgan.ca.

Order with Credit Card or PayPal

Notes from Over the Hill $16.99 Notes from Over the Hill - with shipping $21.99

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Martha Mondays: Elevators

I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about elevators, but the last time I rode in one it suddenly occurred to me that nobody under the age of 50 would be likely to remember when they were not automatic but were run by real, live people. My daughter thinks she probably saw one of the last of those, with a metal grillwork door and a white-gloved operator at the controls, at the Banff Springs Hotel when she worked summers in Banff in the late 1960s.

Those doors were scary. As you stood waiting for the elevator to come, you could see through them to the empty shaft with cables dangling into the void below, and you hoped they would support the elevator while you were on it. An arrow on an overhead dial indicated its slow ascent as it rose with grunts and groans and metallic clangs of gates opening and closing at every floor. You could peer down and see the roof rising up, but arrival on your floor did not necessarily mean you could step aboard. First, the elevator had to be manoeuvred into position so that it would be level with the floor, a procedure that often required several jerky attempts, and if these were not quite successful the operator would caution: “Watch your step, please.”

In hotels and office buildings the operator was usually an old man, and in department stores a young woman who would sing out: “Second floor: housewares, bedding, towels, curtains, and yardgoods,” while manipulating levers sticking up here and there and turning a kind of wheel with a knob on it that was attached to the wall. It all looked terribly complicated to the unenlightened. I thought they must have to take an intensive training course–at least I hoped they did.

Remember the piped-in music when automatic elevators first came into use? Perhaps it was felt that we would be lonely in there without an operator. My daughter claimed she could tell elevator music from dentist office music, and elevator music was worse. Be that as it may, I’m glad I can now ride up and down in silence. Probably nobody under age 20 remembers that music either.

~ Notes from Over the Hill, pages 16-17

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Martha Mondays are feature at the Siretona blog. Siretona Creative is a publishing and production company that empowers women in the arts to build community among generations and nations. Martha’s book was one of our first major projects: a collection of Martha’s articles that “offer a dose of humour and insights to ease doubts as the golden years approach” (Dr. Lynda Haverstock). Sounds pretty intergenerational to us. So we crafted it carefully, including a specially commissioned and researched typeface that would both beautiful and easy to read.

For more information about Martha’s book, visit www.marthamorgan.ca.

Order with Credit Card or PayPal

Notes from Over the Hill $16.99 Notes from Over the Hill - with shipping $21.99

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Martha Mondays: Life Before Medicare

Do you remember life before Medicare? We didn’t call a doctor until we’d exhausted our own home remedies. There were exceptions, of course. We couldn’t cope with broken bones or kidney stones, but for many ailments which now send us to a clinic for antibiotics we relied on mustard plasters, hot compresses and various other odoriferous and unpleasant concoctions.

We practised preventive medicine. Cod liver oil and Scott’s Emulsion were our defence against colds and flu. Both are still available today, but now they’re in capsule form or orange flavoured. No such amenities for us. We firmly believed that the worse medicine tasted, the better it was for us. A notable exception was a kid I used to babysit. His mother brainwashed him to think cod liver oil tasted good by calling it candy.

Sometimes we miraculously recovered without knowing why. This happened to me when I was playing in the woods and accidentally ran through a spider web spun between two trees. The spider resented the intrusion and bit me on the arm. By the time I got home my arm was swollen to twice its size all the way up to my shoulder and my mother decided I must see the doctor in case it was a black widow spider. She did not have any home remedies for bites from poisonous snakes or insects. But I was dirty from running around in the woods, and it was unthinkable to present oneself at the doctor’s office in less than pristine condition. First I must have a bath and put on clean underwear. I did not think the doctor would ask me to take off my clothes in order the look at my arm, but there was no point in arguing. All mothers had this thing about clean underwear. By the time I finished scrubbing my knees and soaking in the hot tub my arm was back to normal. Even without knowing it, it seemed, mothers were always right.

~ Notes from Over the Hill, pages 14-15

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Martha Mondays are a weekly feature at the Siretona blog. Siretona Creative is a publishing and production company that empowers women in the arts to build community among generations and nations. Martha’s book was one of our first major projects: a collection of Martha’s articles that “offer a dose of humour and insights to ease doubts as the golden years approach” (Dr. Lynda Haverstock). Sounds pretty intergenerational to us. So we crafted it carefully, including a specially commissioned and researched typeface that would both beautiful and easy to read.

For more information about Martha’s book, visit www.marthamorgan.ca.

Order with Credit Card or PayPal

Notes from Over the Hill $16.99 Notes from Over the Hill - with shipping $21.99

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Bigger Story

Do you ever buy something then leave it in the package for who-knows-how-long? I did that with Christine Dente’s CD Becoming. Bought it in a bargain bin at Scott’s Parable in Saskatoon, but didn’t open it until this week. Providential timing, perhaps, because the second song speaks directly to things Kathleen and I are wrestling with as we edit Samantha’s First Story for release in the near future. I’ll be adding this song to my repertoire.

Bigger Story

by Christine Dente, Charlie Peacock, & Scott Dente

In a little town, in a little world
I wrote the memories of a little girl
Little did I know, as the story was unfolding
It would take me down the narrow way
Throw the gate wide open

All my life, I was waiting for an invitation
To be a part of the conversation
Living in a bigger story
All this time was a history-in-the-making
I was headed for a destination
To take my place in the bigger story

So I listen in and I hear the song
From another country and I sing along
And I play my part as the story goes
And the difference that it will make
Is a tale yet to be told

All my life is an answer to the invitation
To be a part of the conversation
Living in a bigger story
All this time is history-in-the-making
Always headed for a destination
To take my place in the bigger story
I'm taking my place in the bigger story

All my life, all my life is an answer to the invitation
Living in a bigger story
All this time, all this time I was headed for a destination
Taking my place in the bigger story
All my life living in the bigger story
All this time, bigger story
All my life living in the bigger story

Christine’s latest project (with producer husband Scott Dente) is Voyage.

What have you left unwrapped, only to discover it gladly later?

Martha Monday: Next Time I’d be Tougher

Have you ever been asked what you would do differently if you could live your life over again? It’s something we like to ponder, even if only to reassure ourselves that we made the right choices. People generally feel that they would live their life the same way.

There are probably exceptions. With the benefit of hindsight, quite a few prison inmates might do things differently: either stick to the straight and narrow or figure out a way to avoid being caught. As for the rest of us, there may be regrets for opportunities missed, but for the most part I think it is only minor things we would change.

I would certainly want to marry the same man. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have the same children, and that wouldn’t do at all. I’ve become quite fond of them. I would be firmer though. I would have made them pick up their toys when they were little so I wouldn’t have to use a rake to get all the debris out from under their beds when they were teenagers. I shouldn’t have been doing that anyway. They should have done their own raking.

Above all, I would never be a martyr. It’s easy for mothers to fall into the martyr trap, to suffer in silence, thinking: “If they really cared about me they would be more considerate.” I would not wash dishes when it was someone else’s turn to wash, while seething with resentment inside. I would simply let them pile up. When there were no clean dishes left, they’d get the message.

Another stupid thing I used to do was fill the freezer if I had to be away for a few days. All the casseroles and other hearty meals I’d lovingly prepared for my teenaged sons were still there when I returned. They hadn’t even opened the freezer; they just sent out for pizzas or picked up fried chicken.

I’d be less obliging, too, when asked to serve on yet another executive or committee. It’s always the same people who are willing to donate their time. Enough is enough–let someone else take a turn. Yes, I’d be a lot tougher if I could live my life over again.

~ Notes from Over the Hill, pages 12-13

______________________________________________

Martha Mondays are a weekly feature at the Siretona blog. Siretona Creative is a publishing and production company that empowers women in the arts to build community among generations and nations. Martha’s book was one of our first major projects: a collection of Martha’s articles that “offer a dose of humour and insights to ease doubts as the golden years approach” (Dr. Lynda Haverstock). Sounds pretty intergenerational to us. So we crafted it carefully, including a specially commissioned and researched typeface that would both beautiful and easy to read.

For more information about Martha’s book, visit www.marthamorgan.ca.

Order with Credit Card or PayPal

Notes from Over the Hill $16.99 Notes from Over the Hill - with shipping $21.99

______________________________________________

driving home

I had not noticed how far away I had gone until Thursday morning I had a dream about driving in a car with Brad Jersak. I don’t recall saying anything to each other. It was just good to be riding together.

That same morning, I got in my car for the half hour commute to work and the radio was off. The dream reminded me to leave it off.

It was pure exercise that morning: keeping silence as a basic spiritual discipline – the discipline of not reaching for the button, not tuning it to a talk show (as much as I enjoy CBC Radio One), not turning to Shine FM (as spiritual as it might seem to listen to worship music on my drive). No, this morning the dream had told me to drive in silence, so I obeyed. I did the same thing that afternoon and again the next morning and afternoon.

By Friday afternoon, I could hear. My life has been so frenetic: moving twice in one month, training on two new jobs (albeit in the same place), meeting dozens of new people, playing Ultimate Frisbee for the first time in 12 years, wondering about my future, my finances, my place in this city and in the world. All this and more left an exhausting buzz in my ears and my soul.

It was refreshing to see an old friend in my dreams and recognize the call to be still and silent, starting my quiet car, barely warmed by the early sun, still cluttered with shoes, papers, bags, bills, trash – the detritus of storage and moving and banana snacking on the run, accumulated debris of a rushing, uncentered life.

So Thursday morning was a relief. And by Friday afternoon I could hear God’s whisper: “Rest in me. Rest in my love. Welcome home.”

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This piece of writing arose out of a writing workshop by my cousin, Heather Persson, at Arlington Beach Family Camp this week. She asked us to do this writing exercise:

Last time you felt the presence of God, using all your senses, describe where you are and what you absorbed, how did you react to the surroundings, and how did you experience God in that moment; what did you learn or what was he saying to you.

BlueBeary: finalist in CCW Awards

Book - Children

Kathleen McMillan of Aldergrove, British Columbia, for BlueBeary (Siretona Creative)

Wendy van Leeuwen of Listowel, Ontario, for Terrific Tuesdays (Gumboot Books)

* * * * *

I’ll be singing “Child of My Heart” at the Canadian Christian Writing Awards gala in Mississauga, ON, June 16th. It would be so thrilling to accept an award for BlueBeary. But it’s enough to know that I can be there to connect with other writers, editors, and publishers from across Canada!

See the complete shortlist of finalists for The Word Guild 2010 Writing Awards at www.thewordguild.com/media.

new song: My Mother’s Day

For my mother and her sisters, who said good-bye to their own mother just a few weeks ago. I love you all very much.

Child of My Heart: Awards & Fan Faves

I’ve been asked to sing “Child of My Heart” at The Word Guild Awards Gala in Mississauga, Ontario on June 16th. My parents are donating Aeroplan miles for the flight so I can share this song.

In the fall of 2008, I co-wrote this song with Lisa Cornish, Dara Hallett, and my mom, Betty Taylor, for a fundraising banquet for OptionS Pregnancy Centre in Regina.

In January 2009, Dara and I sang it on our Minus 40 Tour. In May 2009, Lisa and I sang it for the Mother’s Day banquet at Arlington Beach Camp.

Last spring we won Award of Merit for song lyrics and this year I’ve been asked to sing it. I hope and pray that this song is used more and more widely for the glory of God and for the freedom of endless women and children!

For the month of May, “Child of My Heart” will be on IndieHeaven’s Fan Faves Chart. Click on www.indieheaven.com/fanfaves, select SONGWRITER in the dropdown box, the click the VIEW button. Add your vote by clicking on a star to rate the song.

Thanks for your support and prayers!

More crisis pregnancy resources:

http://www.capss.com

http://www.lifesitenews.com/gethelp/pregnancysupport/canada.html

getting to Write! Canada

WANTED:

Sponsors to help me get to Write! Canada and the Canadian Christian Writing Awards in June.

Last year, the song “Child of My Heart” (which I co-wrote with Lisa Vanderlip Cornish, Dara Hallett, and Betty Taylor) won Award of Merit for Song Lyrics at the Canadian Christian Writing Awards. This year they have asked me to sing this song at the awards gala.

The song is a duet between a birth mother and an adoptive mother and it’s such an important story to share. Originally we wrote it in support of OptionS, a crisis pregnancy centre in Regina, SK. Dara and I sang it on our Minus 40 Tour in January 2009. I would love to go and sing this song in person in Ontario—help take the message wider.

I would love to go to Ontario a few days early to give concerts and school presentations, and stay a couple of days after for the writers’ conference. I’ll apply for a conference bursary.

My main need is for a flight. I’m looking for friends with flight credits, air miles, and/or dollars to contribute to this trip.

Listen to the song here.

Donate money, click here.

Donate a flight, contact me here.

The gift of the ‘grandmother’

I love Jean Vanier’s practical insights:

A community needs this gift too, especially if their ‘grandmother’ also has a fund of commonsense. We too often tend to dramatise our weariness and anguish. We weep and forget why we are weeping. We identify with the agony of Christ or with the most disadvantaged of the world. An older woman who has experience, who is comfortable with herself, knows that what we really need is a week at the seaside. St. Teresa of Avila advised her sisters who were going through a bad patch to eat a good steak rather than force themselves to pray.

~ Jean Vanier, Community and Growth, p. 255

This is my biological grandmother, Madge Bowes, greeting cousins at my cousin Dustin’s wedding in August 2010. That’s my own mother standing directly behind her.

Grandma is such a treasure. She appears to be leaving us this month. We will miss her terribly when she’s gone.

More at the Bowes Family Blog.

You should know Karine

In September 2008, my friends Dave and Chelle Stearns introduced me to the music of Karine Polwart. They had discovered her while studying for their PhDs in Scotland and suggested that her song Follow the Heron might suit my repertoire. Oh indeed.

Karin’s website bio describes her style this way:

“A former children's rights worker, Karine allows images, narratives, questions and wry comic asides to do much of her work. She tries never to say too much. And whether it's the dilemmas of modern parenthood, the unsettling kindness of lies, or the resilience of hope, she admits most of her songs are an attempt to make sense of the fact that "there are people in this world who don't think like you do" (as she herself sings in 2006 song "Daisy"). All of which is precisely the kind of sideways, allegorical approach to contemporary living that you might expect from someone with a Masters degree in philosophy.”

I recently heard her say in an interview on streaming radio (wish I could remember the source) that her song Daisy was written with her sister’s children in mind, the need to protect, teach, and equip them for life in this world, and avoiding cynicism. Poignant.

But Karine is not a pessimist. Clearly the “restlessly creative” artist is “gonna do it all.”

http://www.karinepolwart.com/

inspiration vs obedience?

Writing is so much less about inspiration than it is about obedience. People say, ‘I don’t write unless I’m inspired,’ and that just makes me annoyed. I don’t think there’s ever been a time when I was inspired. I just open the files and sit there and work until something comes. I’ve written about a hundred poems and I think about two of them ‘just showed up.’

~ conversation with Sue Plett, poet, poetry teacher, blogger 

“Show up every day. The blank page will teach you to write.”

~ conversation with Brooks Williams , singer-songwriter

"I do not so much write a book as sit up with it, as a dying friend. I hold its hand and hope it will get better."

“The page, the page, that eternal blankness, the blankness of eternity which you cover slowly, affirming time's scrawl as a right and your daring as a necessity; the page, which you cover woodenly. . . .”

~ Annie Dillard, The Writing Life

You might also like this post: 

What I Wish He’d Said

 

historical fun

I’m doing layout for the village of Duval centennial calendar. My brother Jeffrey sent me the pictures tonight and this one made me laugh out loud!

press release: Stepping Stones

My friend Terri is organizing the concert in Courtenay this Friday. Below is a press release she wrote for their local newspaper, which will come out on Wednesday. I’m so honoured to be part of this (and another similar fundraiser in Victoria). On the wall of the Facebook invitation, Kim wrote, “We will be there!! Stepping Stones and all the staff saved my life I wouldn't miss it for the world :)
Love you guys!!!” Powerful stuff…

Benefit Concert for Stepping Stones Recovery House for Women and Our “Prairie Soul” Guest

Colleen Taylor comes to the Comox Valley this Friday evening, March 26, at 7 p.m. to share her gift of music at a benefit concert for Stepping Stones Recovery House for Women. Colleen describes herself as “a prairie soul with a heart for the world”. She is the founder of Siretona Creative which is a publishing and production company that empowers women in the arts to build community among generations and nations (the name "Siretona" comes from the first two letters of each word in the phrase: sing release to nations). Colleen is doing a weekend tour of various venues on the Island and the Vancouver, with two concerts in support of women’s recovery centers. This Friday’s concert will be held at River Heights Church at 2201 Robert Lang Drive, Courtenay. Tickets are $10 at the door with proceeds going to Stepping Stones Recovery House (dessert and coffee/tea will also be available at an additional nominal cost).

Stepping Stones Recovery House is a non-profit, faith-based residential program for women who are in recovery from alcohol and substance dependence/abuse. This recovery house was birthed two years ago by a few local residents with a vision and heart to see women set free from the grip of addiction. Come enjoy an evening of song, passion and praise. Show your support and raise awareness for this wonderful ministry that reflects the heart of our awesome community.

For more information please call Terri Czegledi 250-650-8255

Foraging for Words

Kathleen McMillan explores the idea of "Foraging for Words" in order to nourish the observation and communication skills of children.

This clip is part of a talk given by Kathleen McMillan, children's educator and author of BlueBeary, as the keynote speaker at an Early Childhood Education conference at Columbia Bible College in Abbotford, BC in November 2009.

TRANSCRIPT:

The reason I like words is because I think words are like—there’s a verse that I like: “a fit word is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” When you teach children beautiful words and words that describe things well, you’re giving them the opportunity to create something beautiful in their language. So I encourage you: talk, talk, talk, talk to the kids all the time. Sing and read and present new words. Don’t be afraid.

In my book I present the word forage. Does everybody know what the word forage means? It’s quite amazing, actually, sometimes I find that people don’t really think of it as a word that they understand. But I think of foraging as, well, you know what it means—gathering, gathering food generally. But when we are talking to children we can forage through the wealth of words that are out there and we can gather them and we can present them to them and we can feed them on those words.

Celebrate Easter: Resurrection Buns & Butterflies

I want to make these for Easter Sunday. And I’m hoping there will be at least one young girl to help me. They’re called Resurrection Buns because they “form a 'hollow' in the middle after baking. This hollow represents the empty tomb when Christ arose on Easter. They taste very much like cinnamon buns. YUMMY!”

The initial inspiration comes from Ann Voskamp’s blog: A Holy Experience. The recipe is here.

I would also like to make these butterflies, as recommended on the same blog post by Ann:

Ann knows how to “add to the beauty.”

transformed imagination

I’m supposed to be finishing my notes and handout for leading a workshop on imagination tomorrow and I don't feel particularly imaginative about it! I have been thinking and researching it for weeks and weeks, but nothing is cohesive and I’m tempted to do what my college students used to do: string together a set of quotes.

Of course they would be good quotes , but what’s going to hold them together?

Specifically I’m speaking on the transformed imagination. This is a writers’ conference for Christians who want to mature in their craft.

Hmmm. Perhaps I’m trying to be too linear. This is a workshop not a lecture, so the aim should be interaction and discovery. I do have an outline in mind, some ideas for application exercises. Perhaps it would be okay if the handout didn’t go from one thing to another to another. Perhaps it would be okay to equip the students with a few pages of quotations, thus introducing them to a range of thinking on imagination, faith, transformation, and the arts—especially the literary ones. I want them to “meet” Eugene Peterson, Wendell Berry, Dorothy Sayers, Leland Ryken, Luci Shaw, Mary Oliver, Francis and Edith Schaeffer, Madeleine L’Engle, W. David O. Taylor, Betty Carlson, George MacDonald, Chelle Stearns, and more and more and more. 

Yes, that’s what I’m going to do. Prepare a handout that could lead the holder in any number of directions. We all have to start somewhere.

Ah, but where do we start? As Christian artists, we start in the mind of God. Edith Schaeffer was apparently fond of saying, “The Lord has infinite imagination.” From the creation of the world, to the formation of Israel, to the kingdom of God, and the Good News of freedom in Christ Jesus. God created ex nihilo. We do not create something out of nothing: there is always some kind of inspiration behind our work. The work we produce reflects the objects of our attentions. Our imagination can be simply our own and misguided or downright evil, or it can be reclaimed for higher purposes, renovated, as Dallas Willard and Eugene Peterson say.

“If Christ is the King, everything, quite literally, every thing and every one, has to be re-imagined, re-configured, re-oriented to a way of life that consist in an obedient following of Jesus…A total renovation of our imagination, our way of looking at things–what Jesus commanded in his no-nonsense imperative, “Repent!”–is required.” ~ Eugene Peterson, The Jesus Way, 9

There. That’s a reasonable foundation. More later. Right now I need to make a non-linear handout.

 

Global Wonders: from slavery to beauty

What are the best ways to help women and children who are trapped in destructive situations?

A few years ago I made some new friends who had been involved in the early days of Servants Anonymous Foundation, a organization of new abolitionists that rescue women and children from sexual slavery.

As a Christian organization, the SA Foundation believes in the importance of vision that is based on servanthood, personal recovery and community while focusing on the long-term objective that no person be trafficked into the sex trade and remain trapped in a life of sexual exploitation. (from Who We Are)

Begun in Calgary, SA’s influence has spread into British Columbia, the United States, Nepal, and is being introduced to even more places around the world.

SA’s recovery strategy includes job skills training and business initiatives. One initiative out of Nepal is Global Wonders Handicrafts, which produces knitted wool products, two lines of jewelry, and home decor (esp. baskets).

Global Wonders jewelry now has an online store. Please browse and consider this:

Your Purchase Helps Provide Economic Alternatives And A Life Of Dignity To Survivors Of Sexual Exploitation And Those At Risk. Thank You For Being Part Of The Solution!

View Full Album

Destiny Dresses

“I am blown away by Destiny Dresses,” declares Brad Jersak, editor and contributor with Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice, author of Kissing the Leper.

To answer the problem of child poverty, especially among little girls, Destiny Dresses receives donations of special occasion dresses (wedding, grad, bridesmaids, etc.), which are lovingly remade by volunteer dressmakers.

Led by Carol Schafer from Athabasca, Alberta, “Destiny Dresses seeks to demonstrate the extravagance of God's love and grace and beauty by providing the poorest little girls in the world with beautiful dresses in Jesus' name.”

“I'm especially looking for dresses in light and bright colours,” says Carol.

“Carol's a friend, trustworthy,” Brad Jersak affirms. “She was inspired by the story of a little girl (10ish?) who sold herself to be married to an old man because he promised her a dress. That should never happen.” Confirming that the girl was 10, Carol says she heard about the girl from Barry Slauenwhite of Compassion Canada who actually said that the girl "agreed to marry a 72-year-old man for the promise of a dress."

“The story of Destiny Dresses began a number of months before I heard Barry tell of this girl,” Carol notes, “but it certainly confirmed that the course of action entrusted to me was to sew dresses for these precious and vulnerable girls wherever they live.”

To raise awareness and share the vision, Destiny Dresses has held one fashion show so far. Hopefully there will be more!

The dressmakers “also remake other gently used articles of clothing into everyday clothes for boys and girls in great need.” On March 3rd, Carol reported to the Facebook group that she had sewn a pair of little girl's cullottes in just over 2 hours. “Feels good to do a quick project! The look of a skirt with the practicality of shorts. Love them!”

In addition to used clothing, Destiny Dresses receives donations of notions: fabric, buttons, lace, and thread. Volunteer dressmakers use the donations to “sew with excellence and purpose because they believe that children are precious, that they reflect the image of God, and that they have a future and a hope through Jesus Christ.”

Clothing by Destiny Dresses is distributed “by various means following ethical practices to ensure that no dress or other clothing is used to lure, entice, or in any way harm a child or any other person.” Individuals and groups get involved with this by taking clothing when they travel, or by donating money for postage and other mailing expenses.

Destiny Dresses cooperates extensively with Compassion Canada’s child sponsorship program. Carol volunteers with Compassion Canada as a Chidren's Advocate.

Destiny Dresses resonates with me, makes me want to cry, makes me want to donate dresses, and gather others to do the same.

Contact Carol through Facebook if you want to donate resources or skills.

my lizard brain

My lizard brain* wants to hide out. My lizard brain doesn’t want to be remarkable, it wants to sun itself while blending into the bark on a branch.

My first couple of weeks on this blog were so faithful, while experimental. It was too much to sustain. So I’ve thought. Now what? Well, first, overcome the resistance, as Seth Godin sees it.* How? Get back with the programs of noting important conversations.

“If you knew that people—even 5 people—were waiting every single day to read what you were going to write on a blog, your brain would rise to the occasion, it would notice things, it would find things to talk about.”

~ Seth Godin, interviewed on Small Business Marketing Podcast from Duct Tape Marketing, available on iTunes.

Conversation: email exchanges with Kathleen, Lynette, and Grant about BlueBeary, especially about the iPhone application. The voice-over is done and the sound files are now with PicPocket Books. Lynette says it sounds great and "we'll be working on the app full tilt starting tomorrow." And now, BlueBeary’s cover is on the PicPocket Books website. So excited!

Conversation: Lana Buschert of Keys to Music Studio here in Calgary. I start teaching Wednesday afternoon, one day a week for now.

Conversation: Ollie Rogers about an expanded role with Tutor Doctor (i.e. a promotion?). What will this look like? How long will it last? We’ll discuss this tomorrow at 11:00.

Conversation: Kevin & Stephanie started her memory verse for church kids’ club. Though we didn’t actually talk about it together, just the process of hearing and saying these words over an over again was thought-provoking and fits well with the lizard brain

⁶ Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!

⁷ It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,

⁸ yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.

⁹ How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?

¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest-

¹¹ and poverty will come on you like a bandit
and scarcity like an armed man.

Proverbs 6:6-11

So many good opportunities. The trick is focus and hard work. Last week Rosie Perera recommended giving up certain high tech addictions for Lent, especially computer games like Settlers of Catan and Facebook’s Scramble. I was getting carpal tunnel anyhow. Fascinating the compulsion and confusion that rises to the surface without these to fill “empty” spaces and numb my brain. Good thing Easter’s still nearly a month away!

* “The idea of the resistance goes hand in hand with the lizard brain. And Steven [Pressfield] doesn’t talk about the lizard brain, but The War of Art … starts out as a book about how to overcome writer’s block, but it’s way bigger than that because writing isn’t the point, the point is shipping. And what the lizard brain does is when it feels you are getting close to something that could get you laughed at, it throws up roadblocks. Sometime those roadblocks are subtle like, “Well, I don’t really feel like writing today. I don’t really feel like doing something extraordinary. I don’t really feel like writing a blog post that people are going to read. And then, it can actually lead you to become an alcoholic, commit suicide, do all sorts of self-destructive things just to protect the lizard brain.

“If you are not shipping, if you are going to a lot of meetings, if you are whining about how your boss won’t let you do something, this is the work of the resistance, and you must call it up by name and you must follow really clear steps to find a path to defeat the resistance, because if you don’t, then you are on track to be mediocre, you are on track to be average, and you are on track—in this economy—to be trampled on and end up in a dust heap on the side of the road of failure.”

On stalling: “If you can spend 12 hours getting more efficient instead of 12 hours being remarkable, that’s 12 more hours that the lizard brain got to hide out.”

~ in 43 Folders – Interview with Linchpin author Seth Godin, available on iTunes.

opening space for Creative Women

Leaving soon for Creative Women: Blooming, Birthing & Beauty.

Our structure will be “open space conferencing” in which the four key principles are:

- Whoever comes is the right people;

- Whatever happens is the only thing that could have;

- When it starts is the right time;

- When it’s over it's over.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone brings!

Public concert in the evening to share my music. If you’re in Calgary, come on over!

what I wish he’d said

A few weeks ago at Break Forth, one Canada’s largest Christian conferences, I attended a workshop on songwriting, led by the composer of some of the church’s best-known recent songs. The workshop package contained several brand new songs and we spent a lot of time sight-singing. Our presenter spoke about the origins of songs—ideas, research, collaboration, melodic lines, etc.

The group wanted to focus on the songwriting process. “Do you write the words or music first?” Our presenter said he tends to write music first, qualifying that this is partly because that’s his expertise, while his wife and their co-writer specialize in lyrics.

He also explained that while he highly values solid lyrical and theological content, he sees music as the key to a great song. If you have great words but terrible music people won’t sing it; if you have great words and great music people will definitely sing it; but if you have bad words and great music, people will still sing it. So first priority, in his opinion, is sing-able music.

Many people in the room thought he meant that melody MUST happen first. That’s not what he meant at all. This particular approach just works for him and his co-writers. Whether you write words or melody first, if the music isn’t “good” it doesn’t really matter what you do.

This led to discussing inspiration. One lady claimed, ”God gave me my song complete, words & music together.”

The presenter looked at her blankly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he declared. “God has never given me a song that’s complete. I believe that God has given me gifts and skills and I work with those.”

I could tell the woman felt dismissed. In fact, she left a little early and looked like she was crying. I wanted to follow, but was too far away to get out quickly. I prayed and prayed for her, sensing that the speaker’s response was like a slap.

What I wish he had said was this: “That’s never happened to me. I believe that God has given me gifts and skills and I work with those out of faithfulness and obedience. I suppose sometimes God might do that, but usually even the most inspired song needs work before it’s finished.”

That’s what I wish he had said. He didn’t have to shut her down. I understand his reaction. The lady talked about “my song” as if it’s the only one she’s ever written. And looking at her it was easy to assume that her song might be unsophisticated, contain clichés, with basic rhyming of the “roses are red” variety. However, none of us actually heard the song, so how could we really judge? I wish he had given benefit of doubt to the quality of her song and the integrity of her process.

There is an important relationship between inspiration and craft. Christians typically claim the Holy Spirit as muse. Unfortunately, upon that claim too many Christians do not delve into craft, so their work is trite and shallow, aesthetically weak. An undeveloped doctrine of inspiration leads to error on two side: (1) if it’s from God I shouldn’t have to revise it, or (2) it’s up to me to work hard.

I prefer a middle ground: not imagination vs. intellect, but both imagination and intellect. Both are part of a person’s mind, and both need to be transformed and renewed as per Romans 12. This applies in all areas of life. To say “that was just my imagination” is a conversation-killer with God, with others, and with our own selves. To elevate logic limits us.

The Lord clearly gives people “wisdom, intelligence, and skill,” as he did with the craftsmen for Israel’s original tabernacle in the desert. Sometimes this inspiration seems to come “out of nowhere,” but ultimately its source is the Spirit of God who invites us to participate in his creative, redemptive work.

So the people of Israel – every man and woman who wanted to help in the work the LORD had given them through Moses – brought their offerings to the LORD. And Moses told them, "The LORD has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, grandson of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. The LORD has filled Bezalel with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, intelligence, and skill in all kinds of crafts. He is able to create beautiful objects from gold, silver, and bronze. He is skilled in cutting and setting gemstones and in carving wood. In fact, he has every necessary skill. And the LORD has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach their skills to others. The LORD has given them special skills as jewelers, designers, weavers, and embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn on fine linen cloth. They excel in all the crafts needed for the work. Bezalel, Oholiab, and the other craftsmen whom the LORD has gifted with wisdom, skill, and intelligence will construct and furnish the Tabernacle, just as the LORD has commanded." (Exodus 35:29 – 36:1)

sunshine & blog awards

So lovely to have sunny days, when the mountains are clear in the distance and we barely need to wear our coats.

So much fun to receive comments on blog posts. Also fun to receive awards you didn’t even know you could get! Thanks, Michelle!

RULES TO ACCEPT THE AWARD:

1. Put the logo on your blog in your post.
2. Pass the award on to 12 bloggers.
3. Link the nominees within your post. [list below]
4. Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blogs.
5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award. [see above]

Below is a list of 12 blogs from my handy iGoogle page.

Family Camp 2010. Shauna Archer, moderator, set up this blog to prepare friends of Arlington Beach Camp and Conference Centre for 50th anniversary celebrations this July. I’m excited about that! I’ll be the official editor of The Fish Flyer daily news.

Shauna and her family recently returned from 2 (or was it 3?) years in Indonesia, which she blogged and I followed until she returned to Canada & stopped adding posts.  

Marketing Tips for Authors. Tony Eldridge is one of the most faithful bloggers I know of. Absolutely every work day there is a post from Tony. When he goes on vacation, he plans ahead for a guest blogger, otherwise there’s always something from him. And it’s unfailingly useful information. He makes me want to be a better writer, publisher, promoter, sales-person, etc., etc.

Rebekah Joy Plett, artist. Oh, this delightful, quirky girl has been such a blessing to me! She illustrated BlueBeary by Kathleen McMillan and the second book, too. We are eager for the day when we can hire her to finish the rest of the series (9 more books). Anybody care to sponsor the project?

lisa cornish | photography. Lisa is married to my cousin Don and I adore their entire family. Lisa has done a couple of photo shoots for me and I’m thrilled to see how hard she works on sharpening her eye and her skills.

Lisa’s daughter is the dancing, giggling pixie beside me in the video below.

Emily Wierenga. Here’s another artist-writer-deep-thinking-creative-woman. And new mother. Her creative work has continued and deepened with the birth of her long-awaited son. She forms pictures with paint, poetry, and prose.

Rosie Perera. Another thoughtful, writerly, creative woman. Rosie was involved in writing the original MS Word program (creative work to be sure). From Seattle she moved to Vancouver, where she and I overlapped at Regent College. She understands her vocation to involve helping people live well with technology, which blends technology with spirituality. She is also deeply interested and active in faith and arts. If you search her name on the internet you’ll soon find articles on both topics.

Dr. Chelle Stearns. Another Regent colleague, Chelle and I cheered each other across the finish line for our Masters degrees. She and her husband went on to Scotland where they both got doctorates. Chelle teaches theology at Mars Hill Graduate School and I’m in awe of (and grateful for) her ability to synthesize and integrate big ideas, especially those related to faith and the arts.

The Accidental Poet aka Accidental Housewife. (Which is it anyhow?) Sue and I first met at Write! Saskatoon where I was enthralled by the two workshops she led. The next year found me at the same conference on the same roster of workshop presenters and at the same restaurant afterwards, driving her around the city. Enthralled, I tell you. Sue inspired me to write more poetic things. She also makes me laugh hysterically and has promised to wear green and accompany me on my court day (March 17th) to contest my traffic ticket. Oh, and we’re both teaching at Write! Saskatoon again, driving together even further this time, all the way from Calgary.

Carol. Of course there had to be at least one Briercrest blogger on here. Actually, there are two, but Carol gets listed first. Carol and I met at Briercrest when I was a new professor and she was a new residence director and seminary student. She’s yet another creative woman who is also one of the most organized people I have ever met. Too many creative people sabatoge their potential for lack of order, but Carol is efficient AND aesthetically astute. Her especial skill is flower arranging. She also likes acting and, after several comedic roles (including Wicked Witch of the West), is doing her first serious role this spring as Anne Frank’s mother.

Bryan Moyer Suderman. I don’t even remember how I found this guy, but I was internet surfing for info about music and the arts and business models and sustainability (or something like that) when I happened upon his concept of Community Supported Arts. Brilliant. I became a member of Small Tall Music, started corresponding with him from time to time, and eventually co-hosted a concert with my brother in Duval. I blogged a bit about it and so did Bryan. Oh, and Bryan makes a cameo appearance early in this little video, recorded the night of his concert. He’s the first guy you see, sitting on the red couch, when the camera starts to pan.

A Holy Experience. Luminous. Transporting. This blog makes me want to be a better person, add more beauty to the world, all the while throwing myself on the grace and mercy of God. It also makes me want to be a homeschooler and a farmer. (Ann Voskamp is the only blogger I know of who is possibly more prolific than Tony Eldridge.)

Prairie Road. Erin Ortlund and I crossed paths as I was leaving Caronport, SK and she was arriving. After finishing a PhD in Scotland, her husband was taking a position teaching in the Bible/Theology department at Briercrest College and Seminary, and as Americans neither of them had lived in Canada before so Erin had been doing her “homework,” learning about her new home. Somehow she had learned about my blog, so knew quite a lot about me before we met in person. Though we lived in the same place at the same time for less than a month, we have followed one another via our blogs and have enjoyed the occasional visit in person.

By the way, Erin’s husband Eric contributes to Prairie Road, has a blog of his own (Scatterings) and contributes to yet another blog (Hosting the Text).

hungry for hope in Moose Jaw

Joe Dueck has been working to change lives for 15 years. Joe's Place is a drug-free and alcohol-free drop-in centre for youth in in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Recently Joe's Place entered the Aviva Community fund contest and, after months of voting, won $50,000 to install a new kitchen. As a result, they were featured on Canada A.M.'s Breakfast with Jeff:



More.

Here's a video Joe's Place used to promoted the project:



As a registered charity, Joe's Place has other needs, of course: leaky roof, struggling boiler, staff salaries... Get involved by donating here.

say yes for a change

So I had an epiphany over coffee this afternoon (Thurs): I AM going to Breakforth this weekend.

I had been waffling on it quite badly. A story in Ladies Who Launch was the clincher:

The owner of a newly launched brand of baby clothes is toiling away in her San Francisco town house. With two little kids and a husband, she has her hands full starting a company, especially because she has no background in retail. A friend invites her to Los Angeles for a girls’ spa getaway weekend. Looking around at her messy kitchen and three weeks’ worth of unopened mail, and remembering a PTA meeting and an appointment with the cable guy, she grimaces. How could she leave with so much to deal with? But being a yes, as she’d been told to be in her Incubator, was on her mind. She booked the ticket. Her husband took the kids, the cable guy was rescheduled, the dishes stayed dirty, and the mail remained unopened, but guess what? While in Los Angeles, she met a rep for infant and baby gear, saw a handful of stores who could potentially carry her brand, reconnected with a high school friend who agreed to design her Web site, and spend four solid hours fully relaxed, something she’d not experienced since her first baby was born! She arrived home feeling stronger, invigorated about her fledgling business and, ready to take on the kids, the kitchen, and the bills, and all without neck tension or the feeling of impending doom. Her radiance and rejuvenated demeanor were indescribably attractive. Sometimes movement is small. Sometimes it’s big. Yes puts out a different signal, propels you, and is likely to attract different opportunities. You usually can’t imagine what until you start saying it! (page 191)

Last spring I had a similar reticence over attending Serve at Briercrest, but my friend Lorilee spoke firmly and practically forced me to go. She was right and it turned out to be an important weekend in myriad ways.

I wonder if this is a similar situation. I know I’ll see old friends. I know I’ll meet new friends. I know there will be nourishing sessions and important connections. I’ve just been so exhausted. Lord, refresh me … please … for your glory.

your story

I want to offer you this blank slide. And I want you to imagine that this is a photograph of you. And I want you to think about the community that you want to be part of creating, whatever that means to you. And I want you to imagine that it’s a hundred years from now, and your grandchild or great-grandchild or niece or nephew or god-child is looking at this photograph of you. What is the story you most want for them to tell?

~ Katherine Fulton

how we knew Rebekah was “the one”

When Kathleen McMillan and I started looking for an illustrator for BlueBeary and the Open Eyes book series, this is the first picture Rebekah sent to us:

This was her initial conception of Samantha and her bear. Girl a little too skinny, bear not quite what we imagined, but definitely eye catching and promising. So we gave Rebekah (and our other applicants) a few tips on what we were looking for.

Rebekah’s next official communique to us was an 11-page PDF file that included the following elements:

• Cover page with her Catch The Red Balloon logo
• Resume
• Bio
• Artist’s Statement
• A paragraph titled “My role in this project”
• Three excellent professional references
• Sketches illustrating two pages from the story
• Sketches: an emotion study

Very tidy and impressive. We liked the sketches fine:

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But what really blew us away was the emotion study:

We had not asked for this. Immediately several things became clear to us:

1. Rebekah is serious about her craft and her business.
2. Rebekah could give us consistency in drawing/painting the same characters over and over and over again throughout an 11 book series.
3. Rebekah could convey a wide range of emotions—a key factor for Kathleen educating young children.
4. Rebekah would take initiative with the extra things that we might not think to ask for.
5. Rebekah is entirely delightful. (Actually, I think we knew that much earlier in the process, but the portfolio confirmed it.)

So we hired her, and she painted Samantha consistently with a range of emotions in the first book:

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And she took initiative with colouring pages before we even asked about them:

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And she painted Samantha consistently with a range of emotions for the second book (pending):

View Full Album

And she’s got lots of ideas and connections for promoting the series and for spin-offs.

And (Lord willing) she will paint Samantha consistently with a range of emotions for the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh books!

Hiring and working with Rebekah has set the bar really, really high for relationships with future illustrators. We have all been learning so much from each other in this immensely satisfying process.

We sure like Rebekah Joy Plett!

 

NOTE:

Rebekah used her blog to document the process of painting the first project:

• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/06/illustration-of-story-day-1.html
• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/06/illustration-of-story-day-2.html
• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/06/illustration-of-story-day-3.html
• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/06/illustration-of-story-day-4.html
• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/06/illustration-of-story-day-4-5.html
• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/06/illustration-of-story-day-6.html
• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/06/illustration-of-story-day-7-and-things.html
• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/06/merry-friday-to-all-and-to-all-good.html
• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/06/illustration-of-story-its-near-end-and.html
• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/06/illustration-of-story-nearing-end.html

A couple of extras about this project:

• http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/2009/08/all-my-love-and-then-more.html
• http://booksidoneread.blogspot.com/2009/08/things-that-make-me-go-squeee.html

Rebekah’s official website:

• www.catchtheredballoon.com

Rebekah used to be on Facebook, but she decided to disable her profile in favour of the antiquated, immensely personal and slower communication form: snail mail letters.

We are thrilled for Rebekah that she’s getting married in June! Congratulations and a thousand blessings on you and your intended!