Walking in This World

I am taking a journey through Julia Cameron's book Walking in This World, which is the sequel to The Artist's Way. A dear friend recently took the journey with me through The Artist's Way experience. We learned so much about ourselves and art. Julia takes you through a twelve-week process of discovering who you are in relation to your art. I am currently in Week 2 of Walking in This World. I will recap today what I learned differently from The Artist's Way in Week 1 and follow-up with Week 2 later.

Week 1 - Discovering a Sense of Origin

-Setting Out

• Art doesn't care where it is done (ex: in a studio). It only cares that you do it.
• Our dreams come true when we are true to them. Take small steps to achieve them.
• Our culture does not encourage us as artists to act decisively upon our creative desires. We are trained to think about them, doubt them, and second-guess them. We are trained to talk ourselves out of committing to art.
• Thinking is not the enemy, but overthinking is.
• We get a lot further creatively by staying put and doing something small and do-able daily in the life we already have.

-Committment

• We are committed to a career or professional agenda and we tell ourselves that is all we have energy or time for. This is false. When we make the art we love, it makes time and energy available to us for our professional pursuits. (Rose, you are right!)
• When we open ourselves up to make art, the finances and supplies find their way to us.

There were a couple of quotes that were very inspiring to me.

~Change everything, except your loves. - Voltaire

~How often things occur by mere chance which we dare not even hope for. - Terence

Be Thankful

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. ~ Psalm 100:4



I challenge you, my friends, to think of 10 things you are thankful for today. My list is as follows.

• God, who loves me for who I am and saved me



• My wonderful husband, who I love dearly



• My children who give life to our house



• My parents, who gave me life and love me



• My brothers, sisters and their families



• My many, many wonderful friends



• Ability to serve others



• God's beautiful creation, the colors, textures, sounds, etc.



• The house we live in



• The food we eat



• The country we live in



• The freedoms we have

.....and many, many more.

Apron Strings

I am making my nieces and daughter aprons for Christmas. Brittany (my daughter) saw this yesterday and asked if it was hers. I don't want her to know for sure it is hers until Christmas day, so I just said I couldn't tell. I did ask her if it looked like something she would like and she said yes. So, I'm excited to know that she will like it.

Friends

I haven't posted in awhile because I didn't feel I had anything noteworthy. The exciting thing of yesterday was new windows! We got a few new windows in our house. We like them so well, we want them in the rest of the house.

I am taking a crash course today for our children's Christmas musical. The Children's director called me last night asking me to fill in for her today at practice while she is away at a meeting. I know, I probably should have learned the songs already and been practicing everyday with our children so they could be at their best. Mothers.....how do you do that with your children when they are in an event? Do you learn their parts and practice with them so they are at their very best? My mother never did that for us and I'm sure some parents do that. Is that pushing our children too much? Personally, I don't want to push them if they don't want to.

I met a new friend the other day who is less fortunate than some of us. We are going clothes shopping tomorrow for winter clothes. Both of us are excited! Oh, and she is an artist too! It was a God thing how I found out. Have you ever met a person in your life that you instantly hit it off and have things to talk about right away? This is one of those persons. (Kasie....you were another one of those persons ;-))

I started a huge project of sewing gifts for the women in my family for Christmas. I quickly found out that sewing is a lot like painting. You make the same mistakes, correct them and move on. Only the correcting takes a lot longer! You have to rip out the stitches. Yuck.

It's a beautiful day here! Hope it beautiful in your part of the world too!

The Love of God

We woke up to 24 degrees this morning. The cold air is so refreshing! After dropping off the kids at school, I went to the local coffee shop and had a cup of java. I usually take a book of inspiration with me to read as I drink my coffee. I am currently reading PrayerStreaming by Janet Holm McHenry. A few weeks ago I came across this poem written by Madame Guyon. She was persecuted for her beliefs by her husband and mother-in-law, but she remained steadfast in her love for the Lord.


The Love of God the End of Life

Since life in sorrow must be spent,
So be it - I am well content,
And meekly wait my last remove,
Seeking only growth in love.

No bliss I seek, but to fulfil
In life, in death, thy lovely will;
No succours in my woes I want,
Save what thou art pleased to grant.

Our days are number'd, let us spare
Our anxious hearts a needless care:
'Tis thine to number out our days;
Ours to give them to thy praise.

Love is our only business here,
Love, simple, constant, and sincere;
O blessed days, thy servants see,
Spent, O Lord! in pleasing thee!

-Madame Guyon

As I was reading today, I ran across John 15:11 - "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." Our joy is made complete through the love of the Lord. When we try to find our own joy, it ends in despair. We need to abide in Him moment by moment.

I hope you have a day made joyful by the love of God!

The Sabbath

What ever happened to the Sabbath? A day of rest? Everyone is so busy going here and there, working, etc. that they don't take a day to rest. The body needs rest to recoup and regroup.

I was raised in a Mennonite church where Sunday was considered a day of no work. A time to visit family or friends. A time to stay at home and rest. I was recently reminded of this as I read a book about the Amish by Beverly Lewis http://www.beverlylewis.com/ME2/Sites/Default.asp. The Amish take it one step further and make sure they have meals prepared the day before so they don't have to cook on Sunday. I remember one instance as a teenager that we were visiting my grandfather. I took my cross-stitch along so I wouldn't be bored. Grandpa was not impressed. He said I shouldn't be working on Sunday. Now, mind you, I don't consider cross-stitch work. It was a way of creativity and relaxation for me.

My point for today....take a day of rest. Refuel your bodies so they can be the temple that God created them to be.

I'm attaching my latest piece of work...okay okay...I did the work on Saturday!

Welcome

God's love is wonderful. The beauty that He surrounds us with each day is amazing. Fall is one of my favorite times of year. The colors are so rich and vibrant. The air is cool and free from haze. The sky is a beautiful clear blue. The breeze gently touches your face. The cats come inside to warm their tootsies. The children come in rosy faced and full of energy.

I have a WIP (Work in Progress) that I hope to show you sometime next week.