The Littlest Gifts

Shiny Brite

I am sucker for old things, retro items that made it through decades in one piece despite their fragility.

I love to wonder who used them. What the story is behind them. Of course, the story.

Chatting with my daughter today, I remarked it was odd a radio announcer was listing off things about the early 1970’s as if that was “that” old.

She looked at me, in the way that only a 17 year can muster, “Mom, that was like FORTY years ago.”

And….?

These ornaments remind me of a parallel. To my daughter I am becoming somewhat of a faded cardboard box. Sure, there are beautiful shiny things inside. But, they are still housed in something somewhat old.

The irony is that like these bulbs the memories become brighter, the story more interesting as the box ages. I am becoming retro. Imagine when I become vintage! Thankfully retro is the new hip. I wonder if my teens know that?

Mom, the cutting edge of modern…

Happy Thanksgiving- Free Printable

I created something for you to share and enjoy…

Use Those Tiny Photo Index Prints

Photos are returned to us with sheets of tiny shots, miniscule memories  we are unsure how to utilize.  Wanting to create a scrapbook layout about unexpected turns in life led to this idea. Cut out the ones that are most meaningful over a span of years, as far as you can gather up. Few dreams turned out as planned, but it turns out experience is a rich teacher.

This could be turned into a beautiful home wall art project. Try it, post what you come up with. I love sharing ideas with you…share with me how you use them.

My Manifesto, Inspired By Jeff Goins

Thanks Jeff, your work encourages me on a deep level. Here is my take:

I see you. You might feel invisible sometimes, but I see you. In fact, I am looking for you. My words are for you.

Days are busy and there are countless diversions, but my heart won’t let me forget that my purpose is in communicating. God is steadily shaping and molding me to share life with you.

I consider myself a truth teller. A seeker. A believer that we are all creative and can express ourselves most deeply through this gift. An encourager. An advocate for the underdog.

I cannot go through a day without observation. I notice things, odd things. Deep things.  Those observations swish around in my brain, connecting with other ideas and pictures, until the thoughts take shape.

The tips of my words sharpen, ready to cast off and reach their mark.

The mark is your heart. I am growing, changing and challenging myself to live abundantly each day. Life is an art form. You are invited to come along with me. I will share with you, life. One word at a time.

Nature Photo- Intricate Beauty Of Frost

Choose Your Focus

What we see is not always accurate.

Our view can be obstructed by the physical. Our focus hindered by ideas and feelings.

It is easy to get caught up in seeing what is ahead of us. Forward motion and thinking are part of how we function.

We miss beauty when we live in perpetual motion.  The compositions of our surroundings.

Obstructed focus must be challenged, for the great things of life are not always the most obvious. We need to look a little harder, mine those hidden gems of living that give us pause.  Look up. May we never assume that the road in front of us holds the entire picture.

Training our eyes recognize the obstructions and refuse to accept them, that is the intersection of ordinary and superb. The daily grind and jaw dropping awesomeness.  We get to choose.

Choose the focus.

Knowing About Jesus vs. Knowing Jesus

I have been learning to know Jesus for about 15 years now. It seems to be a common misconception that knowing about Him = knowing Him. This is opposite of what Jesus tells us in His word. Studying the Bible, it becomes clear that He desires a relationship with us. A friendship is what He offers. How do we build relationships with friends? By spending time with them, asking questions, sharing your hearts. That is available to us. All of us.

It doesn’t matter what we have done or who we think we are. Our backgrounds is irrelevant. They do not impress Jesus. He just wants whatever we have to offer, even if it is broken, ugly, or miniscule. As the relationship grows, our faith strengthens. It is an amazing experience. Defining. He is waiting for you. Wooing you. Yesterday He wooed me to Him on a sleepy, painful morning. Color is a gift to me, and He knows it.

“So glad you are up Christa…come sit with me.”

Psalms 143:8

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you.

Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift my soul.

I read Joanna Weaver’s words today in Having a Mary Heart In A Martha World. She shares, “Jesus goes out of his way to prepare my heart to listen and learn. He waits for the moment I’m most ready to obey. And while I can still refuse him at any time, his rebuke is gentle. It woos me at the same time it disarms me, making me willing and open and ready to change.”

He is calling us to stop learning about him and start relating to Him. Today. It is the best investment of time we can make. The world will demand we do its tasks, but the quiet moments are where we build up our spiritual muscles. We relax, with our friend Jesus, and learn that our worship meets his wooing. In that connection, dynamic living is sparked.

Golden Fall Sunshine

I played around with Filtermania 2 on my camera phone, and was surprised to see that it captured the essence of Fall sunlight. This morning I was walking around my neighborhood enjoying the characteristics of a midwest October. In our flat subdivision, there is one place where the sidewalk dips…the leaves captured into a shallow concrete pond. Crunching beneath my feet. The sound of wind sweeping through the trees, tugging onto aging foliage. Single leaves cartwheeled across the street, the crisp edges tapping, clapping. In the corn fields a huge machine, red against the golden cornstalks, hustled to harvest its goods  onto a waiting truck. Dust suspends into hazy clouds behind it, contrasted sharply by the intense blue sky. My mind struggles to commit as much of the sensory experience to memory as possible. The brilliance of this season is anticipated, blazing through the landscape and distracting me from commitments.

I don’t want to miss a moment. A breeze. A sound.

I want to remember the feel of Autumn, close my eyes with my face to the sun, the golden color still permeating my lids. Dazzling me.

How beautifully leaves grow old.  How full of light and color are their last
days.  ~John Burroughs

Devotion- Mosaic Light

Mosaic Light

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16 ESV

When we feel broken, our thoughts lean toward “How can light shine from a shattered pile of glass?”

I propose that it is even better. The mosaic of life is rich. Notice that our light is to shine before others.  The shards come together to form new shapes, ones that light the path brilliantly for the broken behind us.  The arrangement gives off patterns, unique to the circumstances that formed them.

In the darkness, Christ’s radiance shines as the singular beacon drawing our eyes to Him.

Only Christ is capable of casting out polished and unmarred beams. Yet, He is called the Redeemer. Does He not call us in our brokenness? Allowing partnership with our very maker in lighting the path?

If our way was unmarked by troubles and pain would we look for him in the first place?

Our “good works” can showcase our refusal to accept what life has given us and distract us from His healing.

Determine to look for God’s hand in crafting us, molding us… beautifully.

There is saying by Leonard Cohen, “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”

I would reverse that idea. Without a crack in our exterior, no light would get out.Those fissures become gifts to encourage those stumbling around us. Glowing markers along the rutted road.

Do not be discouraged by your fragments. Our creative God knows how to blend our pieces with His tender hand. The outpouring of light then, could leave no doubt about the source.  In the midst of our light, shines the bright hope of Christ. Only God could receive the glory, for no other craftsman could offer such beauty.

Singer Bebo Norman captures this idea with these words:

“Oh great light of the world
Fill up my soul
I’m half a man here
So come make me whole”

My light contains slivers of glass so fragmented was sure could never be whole. What joy to see that I was wrong. We can walk in bold confidence, assured that our light, our very personal and particular light, is shining before another, profiling Jesus in unique pattern.  Each step, triumph.

If you were blessed by these words from my heart, please share them with someone else who is hurting. Just copy the link and pass it on…