Encouragement in Action

"The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down." ~ Proverbs 14:1

Here's an excerpt from Spiritual Mothering by Susan Hunt.

The wise woman will have a building influence in her relationships; a foolish woman will have a destructive influence in her relationships. And this influence extends beyond the home to every part of her life where she has the opportunity to affect the atmosphere. A church that has the combination of sound preaching from the pulpit and a unified effort of encouragement from the pews will be dynamite! And I personally believe that it is primarily women who bring the energy of encouragement into a church.

The encouragement imperative tells us to "... consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." To understand how to put this into practice, visualize a cave with people hiding inside. This represents people hiding their spiritual gifts. It is impossible to "spur them on to love and good deeds" when they are hiding.

But why are they hiding? Usually the assumption is made that these people are not committed to the Lord or to the ministry of the church. Their non-involvement is interpreted as lack of commitment. Of course the commitment level is sometimes a problem. But more often, the problem is not lack of commitment but lack of confidence.

Generally, people are in the cave because that is the safest place to be, or at least, they perceive it to be the safest place. Involvement necessitates vulnerability that is risky. What if I fail? What if I don't meet the expectations of others? What if I'm criticized or rejected? Most of us simply are not willing to take that kind of risk unless we are operating in a safe environment.

God provides safety for His people. We should seek to do the same.
"For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock." (Psalm 27:5)
"Serve one another in love." (Galatians 5:13)

We must make it safer for people to be outside of the cave than it is to be inside the cave. And God tells us how to do this: "let us not give up meeting together ... let us encourage one another." Encouraging relationships can make it safe for people to come out of the cave and to use their spiritual gifts "for the common good" (1 Corinthians 12:7).
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Who encourages you? Who have you encouraged lately?

Merry Sunshine Baby

I first heard Carrie Catherine’s song “Sunshine Baby” when I covered her songwriting residency in Southey (Oct ‘08) for the Last Mountain Times newspaper. “Sunshine Baby” reminded me of a lullaby Mom used to sing to us: Good Morning, Merry Sunshine. Every since that little Southey encounter, I’ve been following Carrie’s career, particularly watching for a recording of “Sunshine Baby”!

Recently, Carrie and I have been emailing about organizing a concert for her in the Calgary area, so I told her about Mom’s little song. Carrie replied, “Just the other day, I played a gig and was asking the audience if anyone knew the original nursery rhyme containing Merry Sunshine! Although my mom called me that, I have no recollection (nor does she) of where it came from! So thanks for that! Glad you finally got the song. :)”

Until today, I had never looked for it online, but apparently it's quite long with a couple of different tunes.
I found it here with two different midi tunes. The second midi file containes the tune I'm familiar with, but it’s longer.

I found lyrics here, and a slightly different, but apparently official, set of lyrics here, with source citation. Who knew the song’s composer had a name? G. Ambrose.

How delightful to discover that the song is a dialogue between a child and the sun. And here I thought Mom's four-line lullaby was all about me!

Interestingly, my Mom's tune is very compatible with Carrie’s for a little medley. Carrie’s lyrics also reminds me of another song Mom used to sing to me and with me: "Open Up Your Heart and Let the Sun Shine In". I remember entertaining groups with this song when I was about 4 years old ... and 40 ... and many ages in between. But I didn’t know Pebbles and Bamm Bamm had performed it!

what to do this summer

Are you a creative woman who wants to think more carefully about why and how you do what you do? Check out Regent College Summer School. I especially recommend my friend Chelle’s course:

Chelle Stearns: Beauty, Brokenness, and the Cross: Exploring Atonement Theology Through the Arts, July 11–22

Of course there are lots of other courses to check out here.

Better view of above video here.

What is creativity? (part 1)

Often when people tell me they are not creative, I tell them, “Creativity is the ability to use other people’s ideas well.” The idea came from a college textbook that made a strong impression on me two decades ago: Creative Teaching Methods by Marlene LeFever.

My sister is getting married next month and because I live far away from her, I’m compiling a cookbook using The Great Family Cookbook Project. It’s fun to read the submissions & sending out little inspirational notes to the [would-be] contributors.

My next note will suggest the contributors don’t need to be original and will encourage them to share favourites from other sources. For example, one woman added “Angel Biscuits” and included her source: Company’s Coming Muffins and More. I need to include “Blender Hollandaise Sauce” from The Joy of Cooking—so easy and so scrumptious on asparagus or eggs benedict.

I found Creative Teaching Methods on Google Books (of course). In searching for the quotation above (if it IS a direct quote), I have discovered other gems, like this one:

Creativity has become a feminine word. Women are usually thought of as being more creative than men, more at ease sharing their emotions through drama, song and teaching. … “Of course not,” we say, but our attitudes don’t always back up our words.

Look a little deeper. Most creative people are both sensitive and independent. In our society sensitivity is a female characteristic, and independence is considered a masculine characteristic. (p. 37)

LeFever goes on to show that creativity is NOT just the domain of women. That’s good, because I know a lot of creative men: my brother Jeffrey (an insanely talented potter-photographer-videographer-painter-musician), my friend Grant (carver; wordsmith), the illustrious Robert Genn, my husband, etc., etc.

The problem is connotations in meaning. When most North Americans hear “feminine,” we tend to think female. The French would never make that mistake. Or when we hear feminine in relation to men, we tend to think effeminate and/or gay. True, some creative men are effeminate and/or gay, but lots of men (like the ones listed above) are not. It’s too easy to make false equivocations.

So technically, I have no problem with saying that creativity tends to be a feminine quality: not female, not effeminate, not gay, not limited to women. And I’m comfortable saying that independence is a masculine quality, but not male or beefy or limited to women. Of course, to say creativity is feminine implies softness, which is kind of true (think intuition), but it certainly requires discipline (more later), which has a masculine denotation. But creativity is NOT chiefly a womanly thing.

Do you agree or disagree? Why?

 

Originally published on 2conversations.

What is creativity? (part 2)

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When I was a kid, my mom sometimes accused me of being stubborn. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Both of us are strong-willed.

Mom and I are also curious, and share an insatiable desire to improve things. Living in Taiwan, my friend Crystal learned to recognize a look of critique in my eye and she would say, “If you were doing it?” I learned to check that impulse for criticism. The discerning eye can bring re freshing ideas, but a critical spirit is deadening: light and dark sides of creativity.

Here’s more from Marlene LeFever. Does it describe you or someone you know?

One of the most universal characteristics of a creative person is curiosity about everything: questions you wish wouldn’t be asked, insights that jus don’t dovetail with the thought you have been trying to communicate. The creative person is also imaginative. He or she actually cultivates imagination. The creative person is enthusiastic and discerning, knowing what’s good about his or her creations and what needs to be rethought. He or she will stick to ideas and productions that personal assessment affirms are worthwhile.

…

The creative person has a strong will. This often makes the student hard to teach. Creative people are convinced they know a better way, and it’s frustrating for others to admit that they sometimes do.

…

Creative students are independent in their thinking. They will not bend to the opinion of others. They enjoy being different. That marked independence often makes them leaders. This lack of bending adds some stress to their lives—and often to their teachers’ lives as well. However, this stress is one of the spurs to creativity. (page 42)

Do you recognize yourself in this description? Is there someone in your life who has some or all of these characteristics? What does it take to develop creativity like this?

What is creativity? (part 1)

Identity (part 1): grieving losses and change

When butterflies cocoon, it is the end of a life stage.

When our lives change, it is the end of something. It is also the beginning of something else, something potentially more beautiful.

Even so, no matter how good the result might be, we can’t see it. Changes bring identity shifts. We experience loss and we grieve.

One of my friends is a nurse. Well, she used to be a nurse. Now she’s a stay-at-home mom with three kids. When I met her, she was pregnant with the third. Because of family commitments and provincial regulations, she was unable to find appropriate work to keep her nursing license and had to let it go. She was grieving this loss – loss of identity, loss of options, loss of an accomplishment she had worked so hard to achieve. Her husband would say, “But what you’re doing right now is so important!” He was right, of course, but what she wanted (needed?) to hear was, “I know, sweetheart. It’s hard to let it go.”

Another friend had a similar experience with her teaching credentials. Because of their family situation it didn’t make sense for her to keep teaching, yet with a Masters degree in education, it was painful to release the career, the work. Never mind the conviction that it was the right thing for this life season; she grieved the loss.

Sometimes the grief comes from dreams unfulfilled, constantly choosing to let go of one hope for another. I wrote about that in a previous blog post called My Wailing Wall.

There’s a poignant scene in the movie Alice in Wonderland (2010), where Alice, a critical decision-point, encounters the caterpillar Absalom as he is spinning his cocoon.

Absalom: Nothing was ever accomplished with tears.

Alice: Absalom, why are you upside down?

Absalom: I’ve come to the end of this life?

Alice: You’re going to die?

Absalom: Transform.

It’s often hard to trust the process of transformation—or the God of the transformation process. But it’s crucial and necessary.

brain connections

A woman in our church recently received her second radical brain surgery to control her epileptic surgeries. She was having around 28 seizures a day, and now they are reduced to about 14 this week – huge progress. Her language abilities have been damaged, so she comprehends but it’s difficult for her to find words and form sentences in reply. Even so, her mother reports that when J sings, the language is all there. Amazing.

My friend Chelle, professor of theology at Mars Hill Graduate School, recently posted this video that explains the interconnections within the brain and touches on creativity.

We are all creatives …

You may know that through Siretona Creative, I empower women in the arts. That’s pretty specific and pretty broad at the same time. Somewhere in a box – probably in storage at my parents’ place – I have a book called God the Worker by Dorothy Sayers, in which she links our work and creativity to God’s creativity: we are made in his image, therefore we reflect his character. Even those who are “unregenerate” (i.e. not redeemed in, sanctified by, and submitted to Jesus Christ) innately reflect God’s glory in our creatureliness. Those who walk in darkness still get flashes of illumination, like lightning, once in a while.

Recently I was pondering the question again, what does it mean to be creative? And how can I facilitate other women’s creativity? Enter the Gifted For Leadership newsletter, with this month’s downloadable resource, “Creativity & Leadership.”

I leave you with a letter from a Gifted For Leadership editor:

As leaders in the church we underestimate the crucial role creativity plays in communicating God's truth. And because I often feel like the gift of creativity is confined only to the artist types among us, I fail to develop this aspect of my life.

A friend of mine once said, "There's no such thing as a 'creative' type. We are all made in God's image, the ultimate Creator. We are all creatives." If you need some help believing that, check out this week's download, Creativity and Leadership. In it, you'll find inspiration to breathe life and freshness into your ministry as well as practical tools to make it happen.

…

Also new on GiftedForLeadership.com:

• Creativity is often born out of curiosity. Read about "The Gift of Curiosity."
• Top 5 Reasons Churches End Up In Court—quick video every church leader needs to see
• "God and the News"—Kyria editor Ginger Kolbaba on how to use the Good news to combat all the bad news.
• One year Bible study track for seniors—New resources for leading older adults

Here's to imagination,
Nicole Unice
Contributing Editor, Gifted for Leadership

by the way: I got married

Colleen Taylor & Kevin McCubbin

December 30, 2010

First photo album: AH Photography.

And I’ve been blogging over here.