A not quite to scale graph type sketch of the truth, a poem, and more.

Today I finished reading the New Testament. This is a task that proves in and of itself the power of the Holy Spirit. I am a working Mama who is cranky in the morning. It has to be due to supernatural strength and not my own that I have been able to get up at 5am to have time to read day after day. Tomorrow I will get my cranky butt out of bed again and somehow as I read and pray I will come closer to being the woman I am designed to be. 

Anyway, I finished it today and happened to reach the end of a journal at the same time. So what was the overall message I received on the end of this journey? 

This...

I have the courage to write these words. The courage to share my terrible handwriting with you. The courage to face whatever God sends my way. The courage to share His truth. The courage to share this sketch with you.

I made this a year or so ago and have been wanting to share it but did not know how nor did I have the courage to for some reason. It is not to scale and could be prettier. (Maybe I'll work on that.) The point is, it needs to be shared because it shows what is more important than anything. It shows that your life, right now, being kind of hungry or slightly too hot; worried about money or a relationship; battling sickness or missing someone you will never see again; whatever your hardship no matter how hard it is, it is fleeting. On the same not no matter how good life is, it too is fleeting. How you spend this fleeting life matters. Jesus is the only one who can save you. He already did. He is the only one who can restore you and give you an eternity of real life the way it is meant to be lived. Loving Jesus and courageously showing others His love is all that matters. 

This is obviously only part of the conversation. If you have questions, great! Ask away because I have questions too and maybe we can find answers together. 

I'll get off my soap box now and leave you with a poem by Nelle D. Bradley. It says how I want to live my life. I hope you join me.

Hold high the torch of beauty, truth, and love!

You did not light its glow-

'Twas given you by other hands, you know.

'Tis yours to keep it burning bright,

Yours to pass on when you no more need light;

For there are other feet that we must guide;

And other forms go marching by our side;

Their eyes are watching every tear and smile,

And efforts which we think are not worthwhile,

Are sometimes just the very helps they need,

Actions to which their souls would give most heed;

so that in turn they'll hold it high, and say, 

"I watched someone else carry it this way."

If brighter paths should beckon you to choose,

Would your small gain compare with all you'd lose?

Hold high the torch of beauty, truth, and love! 

You did not light its glow-

'Twas given you by other hands, you know.

I think it started down its pathway bright,

The day our Maker said: "Let there be light."

And He once said, who hung on Calvary's tree-

"Ye are the light of the world." Go! ... Shine for me.

Float

 I read Watchman Nee's The Normal Christian Life last spring. He explains the relationship of sin and the Christian better than I have ever read or heard. 

"This deliverance (from sin) is so real that John can boldly write: 'Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin ... he cannot sin' (1 John 3:9), which is, however, a statement that, wrongly understood, may easily mislead us. By it John is not telling us that sin is now no longer in our history and that we shall not commit sin. He is saying that to sin is not the nature of that which is born of God. The life of Christ has been planted in us by new birth and its nature is not to commit sin. But there is a great difference between the nature and the history of a thing, and there is a great difference between the nature of the life within us and our history. To illustrate this (though the illustration is an inadequate one) we might say that wood 'cannot' sink, for it is not its nature to do so; but of course in history it will do so if a hand hold it under water. The history is a fact, just as sins in our history are historic facts; but the nature is a fact also, and so is the new nature that we have received in Christ. What is 'in Christ' cannot sin; what is in Adam can sin and will do so whenever Satan is given a chance to exert his power."

This painting is what came to mind upon reading that passage. 

"Float"

I sewed cloth onto the watercolor painting and hand embroidered her hair.

The Girl in the Lane Shop

We Went Camping

It was the best.

It was also rather exhausting in the best way possible. 

I came home feeling totally worn out but refreshed. 

Also, probably by no coincidence, I started reading Last Child in the Woods when I got back. I am not far into it but I do love it. It is about the new relationship between children and nature. It is an eye-opening read. If you are a parent or are thinking about being one some day, read it. Then go play outside.

It also starts each chapter with a quote. I personally love that in a book. 

There was a child went forth every day, 

And the first object he look'd upon, that object he became,

And that object became part of him for the day or a certain part of the day,

Or for many years or stretching cycles of years.

The early lilacs became part of this child, 

And grass and white and red morning glories, and white and red clover,

and the song of the phoebe-bird,

And the Third-month lambs and the sow's pink-faint litter,

and the mare's foal and the cow's calf,...

-Walt Whitman

It was a fun little outdoors weekend but I need to get back to work. I am excited to be a part of Art Fair 562. It is soon and I have much to do to get ready.

The Girl in the Lane Shop

The caged bird handkerchief

I finished this sweet little hankie on Christmas day. The full quote is "When the caged bird sings is she caged? When art flourishes in prison was the artist ever in that prison?" I found it in Calvin Miller's Into the Depths of God. It is a fantastic book. I do not believe it is his quote but I am having a hard time finding where it came from. If you know, please inform me.

There is freedom in creating. I love how this quote captures this truth. I find great encouragement in these simple words. When there is little in my world I can control, I can always be free as I make something beautiful.

The Girl in the Lane Shop