My new t-shirt that I got from the bookstore inside Financial Peace Plaza last week. Love it!
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Anatomy of a Debt-Free Scream
This weekend was AWESOME!!! After learning everything we needed to know in Financial Peace University about how to get ourselves out of debt, and after working for nearly 6 years to get it done, we decided to commemorate this awesome milestone by heading to Tennessee to scream to the world that WE’RE DEBT FREEEEEEE live on The Dave Ramsey Show! It was the coolest day ever. We cried and laughed. Our team of 2 was strengthened. Even though there were (and still are) lots of haters…people who said it couldn’t be done, we were being way too radical, it will never last, you can’t live without a credit card or a car payment, etc…… We drowned all of them out with hope in what we knew could work (you know, common sense and hard work!) And this past weekend, we got to celebrate a big ol’ victory.
Yes!
But I have to say, talking about it now makes it almost sound almost too simple. Just saying “we paid off our debt” sounds like a one-step process. It was far from that. It was something that had to built up over a long, long time, with many parts that all were equally important. Our debt-free scream wasn’t just a moment in time…it was a thing with structure to it. Bones, if you will. It has anatomy.
So what makes up a debt-free scream?
1. Anger. That’s right. Anger. Everyone seems to have a big fat student loan payment or a payment from a stupid car lease gone wrong or credit card bills hanging over their head. Those things don’t make you special. They make you normal. And when you start to get angry with being normal, you just might want stop being normal. You have to get so disgusted with your own bondage, the fact that you work a job you hate just because you need to pay those bills and buy that stuff, that your blood starts boiling when you think about it. When you think about your $7,642 Visa bill that just came in the mail, doesn’t it get you even a little bit peeved trying to even remember what the heck you even bought with all that money? No? If not, then quit reading. You’re not ready to pursue a debt-free scream journey. Check back with me when you’re ticked.
2. Someone smarter than you. Now I don’t mean actual IQ-smart. I mean you need someone to come along in your life, whether it’s a friend, your spouse, even an author, who can show up and nudge you in the right direction about this money stuff. They don’t have to be a CPA. They just have to be a person who sees the bigger picture a half-step in front of you and can tell you that you’ve got to do something differently. For me, it was my friend Jeff. He’s always been smarter than me about handling money, (and pretty much everything else too, probably.) But he was the one who shoved Financial Peace University into my life by way of a wedding present. If he hadn’t been smart enough to do that, “debt-free scream” wouldn’t even be in my vocabulary. (Thanks, Jeff!! Turns out that wasn’t the world’s worst wedding present after all. You’re redeemed as the Awesome Gift-Giver.)
3. Motivation (aka Dreams). People tell you about new things all the time. If you’re like me, a lot of them seem like cool ideas. Making your own soap. Sewing your own clothes. Skydiving. But that doesn’t mean you’re necessarily going to be motivated to do any of those things just because they sound nice. There has to be some reason for you to actually do them. My husband and I believe that our motivation comes by what we refer to as dreaming a little. We just sit down, hang out for a bit, and talk about what we’re dreaming of doing whenever we reach our goal.
4. A process. Dave Ramsey says, “goals are just dreams with work clothes on.” We can dream all day about what we’re going to go, but then we have to work through a process of steps to actually do it. To become debt-free, you need a step-by-step process and a commitment to following it. If you’re married and trying to pay off debt, that commitment needs to come from both parties. Otherwise the process will be derailed along the way. Our process was to follow the plan outlined in Financial Peace University, which is the same process found in The Total Money Makeover. This plan was perfect for us because it was no slimy, creepy get-rich-quick scheme in a box. It was just common sense organized into small chunks called The Seven Baby Steps. Turns out that hard work and diligence really do pay off! Which brings me to my next point…
5. Discipline. Yeah, that icky D-word that no one likes, least of all me. But nothing difficult (and worth the effort) can ever get done without the ol’ stuff. So buckle down, decide that the best is more important than the right now, and handle your business. Even when you really, really don’t feel like cooking tonight. Even when you’d really like a new dress to wear to that reunion. Even when everyone else went on a vacation this year. Even when Christmas comes and goes and you don’t open a single present. Even when it’s hard. Even when it sucks. Do it anyway. Because the truth is, it’s so, so worth it. My husband is a beautiful illustration of this. He’s worked so hard to help us reach this goal. He even worked LOTS of overtime the last couple of months so we could meet our goal on time (um, we actually met it a little early because he rocks so much!) He is a freakin’ warrior. And I am so lucky to have a man like that, who will put his own wants aside for the greater good… our future. That’s a man. He defines disciplined. And he is my inspiration.
6. Lungs. Yep, after you’ve worked your tail off, and you’ve held hands through the tough times, and you’ve looked people in the eye who said you couldn’t do it, and you’ve done it anyway…it’s time to celebrate! Take a deep breath and scream to the world: WE’RE DEBT FREEEEEE!!!!! Use those lungs, baby!!! Whether it’s on the air with Dave Ramsey or not, shout it from the rooftops and celebrate! You’ve earned it!!
7. Open hands. What, you thought we were done? Not even a little. Once you’re free from debt, free from bondage, free from someone else telling every dime of your money where it has to go…. Relax and look around for ways you can use what you have to bless others. After all, you’ve been living on way less than you make anyway while you paid off all that debt. You have other goals to meet that need some of that money, I know. Everyone knows. When you become debt-free isn’t the only time that you should be generous…certainly not. But when you have more resources, you have more responsibility. So don’t just use it all for yourself, that would be irresponsible. Help someone. Bless someone. Make life a little easier for someone else just because you can. That’s when your debt-free scream will be heard around the world. And that’s when you know that the anatomy of your debt-free scream is complete.
By the way, if you’ve just read this and you’re ready to start your debt-free journey but aren’t sure how, leave your email address in the comments and I will get in touch to mail you a copy of Dave Ramsey’s book The Total Money Makeover. I have two copies sitting on my shelf right now that someone else could be using. No strings, no funny business. I just want to get the same information into your hands that we learned so you can start your debt-free journey right now. Freedom’s waitin’.
Week in review
Summary of my week so far, in no particular order…
-met some super cool shop owners in Franklin, TN
-watched Sister Wives for the first time ever on the hotel TV
-remembered the many reasons why we never watch TV
-went to a water park/splashed and frolicked
-avoided a sunburn even though it was 99 degrees outside. Score!
-got blisters on the bottom of both feet from walking around barefooted on said water park’s super hot concrete. Would rather have had the sunburn.
-Had the best vegan meal of my life at a place called The Wild Cow. Irony.
-met Dave Ramsey (WHAAAATT!!?)
-um, yes, that is what I had said.
-was on a national radio show (see Dave Ramsey above)
-cried tears of joy with my husband over accomplishing an enormous goal
-felt the freedom all over again
-fell in love with my husband for the zillionth time
-watched fireworks and felt like they were just for us
-read some amazing books by talented writers
-started my master’s degree program
-wondered why in the world I need a master’s degree
-spent at least 12 hours reading and writing things because someone else decided I have to
-seriously contemplated a career change
-thought about those books I’ve written in my head and how they need to make their way onto paper soon
-had some bad dreams
-didn’t kiss my husband nearly enough
-paid a caterer for amazing food
-ordered 6 dozen mini vegan cupcakes
-made Hippie Loaf
-reworked Hippie Loaf recipe…v2 was better
-spent several hours with my diva-friends, which of course was not nearly enough
-marveled at my friend’s beautiful baby girl and super talkative 2 year old boy.They’ve grown so fast!!
-talked awesome books and life and Jesus with one of my divas on the way home
-was chauffeured : )
-prayed for many folks to receive comfort and peace
-wondered why my life is so utterly blessed and practically painless
-questioned the strength of my faith
-realized that there are more things I’ve written in my mind that need to find their way out
-wrote this list just to take the pressure off
-closed my eyes
-gave thanks
Spicy Orange Greens and more!
Sorry I’m a day behind… But here is the recipe for the Spicy Orange Greens that I made the other night. It is from the cookbook Everyday Happy Herbivore by Lindsay Shay Nixon. Before I typed it out, I googled it to see if it was already publicized anywhere online and I hit the jackpot! Turns out that the makers of Forks Over Knives (an awesome documentary that you should go check out right this minute!) had compiled 5 of Lindsay’s Happy Herbivore recipes in one place! I have personally made all of these except the sweet potato dal, which is dog-eared in my cookbook as one I’ve been wanting to try. They’ve all been delicious. In fact I haven’t been disappointed with one single recipe I’ve ever made from the Happy Herbivore cookbooks or web site.
The Spicy Orange Greens recipe is included in this, and the cool part is that even though I used broccoli and quinoa for it, it can be modified many ways. Todd doesn’t care for the texture of quinoa, so I put his over brown rice. You can even change the greens to use collards or kale or whatever. The spicy orange sauce is delicious and you can adjust it to your own tastes very easily. Follow this link for all 5 of these recipes from Happy Herbivore!
Click to access FOK_EHAPPYHERBIVORE_RECIPE_FINAL.pdf
Monkey Town Read-Along: Week 2
This week’s read-along assignment was to read chapters 1 & 2 of Evolving in Monkey Town by Rachel Held Evans. Chapter 1 was hilarious. I could feel her sarcastic pain. Chapter 2 made me want to puke. SOOOO much to talk about, I’ll have to choose just a few points. UPDATE: I’m only talking about chapter 1 in this post so it doesn’t become wayyyy too long. I mean, we’re already around 1000 words here. I will deal with chapter 2’s business in another post today or tomorrow. I gotta go for a run right now…
Chapter 1:
Rachel talked about her early years growing up and how she attempted to win the “Best Christian Attitude” award at her private elementary school. I was cracking up at this. She mentioned her “strategy” for winning several times, which she said included things like keeping extra pens and pencils at her desk to loan to “needy students”, allowing classmates to cut in line at the water fountain, and making a point to mention “the plight of the poor, homeless and heathen” during prayer-request time, while all the other students were focused on lesser matters such as their sick pets. (pg 36) She won the Best Christian Attitude Award 4 years in a row. She didn’t make it past 4 years because they moved to public school. I wonder if she was a little relieved not to have to work so hard for that anymore?
The whole thing reminded me a little of the “Most Christ-like” sticker (I think that’s what it’s called) in Upward sports. My niece used to cheer for an Upward basketball team and every week when the stickers were handed out, it always seemed to me that the kid who didn’t get any of the other ones for the week ended up getting the “Most Christ-like” sticker. Sorry, kid…you don’t have any real athletic ability and you have no concept of the whole teamwork thing, but you didn’t cuss and you didn’t punch anyone, so I guess we’ll give you this sticker…
Later in the chapter she talks about her “strategy” for dealing with fellow classmates at her high school in Dayton, TN. Everyone there was basically already professing Christianity, so there was no one to “evangelize.” (Pg 41) She dealt with this by being overly friendly to everyone and “always looking for openings in the conversation that would naturally lead to a discussion about substitutionary atonement.” (I laughed/snorted really loud when I read this!! She’s flippin’ brilliant!)
Isn’t that just so like us?? Striving and creating strategies to deal with life and people? We all do it. Sometimes I guess it’s necessary, like creating a strategy to deal with a toxic person in your life, or a strategy to stay away from something that is detrimental to you. Those aren’t necessarily bad things, but when devising a strategy to look good on the outside becomes our focus, we become exactly what Jesus talked about: white-washed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but are full of dead men’s bones. Making ourselves into a white-washed tomb should not become a conscious effort.
Moving on…
What I loved most from this chapter was her admission of being in a constant state of tension between being “discovered” and “found out.” (pg 37) She wanted to be discovered (or maybe recognized?) as a do-gooder and praised for her efforts, but underneath it all she was worried about being “found out” as a fraud who was only out to do good so she could be praised for her efforts. I have to say that I struggle with this tension a lot. Being the baby in a family of 7 siblings, I was doted on and was always the center of attention. That shaped my personality as a loud (even obnoxious!?) extrovert in the truest sense. I grew into a life-of-the-party kind of girl in my teenage and college years, and as you’d expect, that self-centered, “look-at-me” attitude got me wrapped up in some seriously awful experiences in life. Since devoting my life to Christ, I can see both the good and bad sides to this trait. On one hand, I’ve learned to take risks and put myself out in front of things that I’m meant to lead. It’s a natural fit for me, most of the time, and it comes with the benefit of being able to use my gifts in the way they’re meant to be used. But on the other hand, that little girl inside of me still twirls around in my floofy skirt insisting “look at me! look at me!!” and I have to make sure that I don’t allow her too much free rein. So I am constantly questioning my motives and asking God to search me out for that shred of the little girl who wants all the attention for herself, when it is God who deserves the glory for any good in me. On that note, I’ve come to realize that this can also easily be used as a weapon of the enemy, when it’s twisted up in my mind to make me shy away from doing things I am supposed to do. Sometimes I don’t end up accomplishing my given task for fear that I am just doing it for attention. I worry that I’ll be “found out” as a fraud who is only trying to get a pat on the back. It’s a crazy tension that I just have to count on God to work out in me. I suspect we all have our own type of this tension.
I want to say thank you to Rachel for her stark honesty and for her humor in this book. My brain is going a thousand miles a minute after reading these pages. Writing about chapter 2 might just take me out. Yikes.
Even if you’ve not read the book, these are some questions you can think about:
Who in your life might deserve a “Best Christian Attitude” Award? (really!) What traits do you see in them that make you think that? And how to they compare to what Jesus himself was like? Are they things you see in him or things that we’ve made up as “good” Christian ideals?
Have you recognized yourself at all in this explanation of living in a tension between being discovered and being found out? What’s behind that? Is there a central message that’s been spoken to your heart over the years that creates this tension? (Check out chapter 4 of Wild at Heart by John Eldredge for more on The Wound and the Central Message)
Other thoughts?
DIY Earring hanger
Oh Lawwwdy, have I ever been a crafty one lately!
Just check out this little gem I picked up at the thrift store last week…
Mmmmmmm Hmmmmmm…. you know you’re jealous, girls! Not only was this gingerbread wall hanging/picture frame/coat rack thingy missing a peg, but that little gingerbread guy…he was stencil-painted onto fabric and even had a little quilt batting stuffed behind him! Whooo-Wheee, that’s a rare thrift store find IN-DEED.
Seriously though…that sucker was $2.93! I mean COME ON! Three bucks for that? I doubt you could have paid anyone else three bucks to TAKE it out of the store. That baby was headed for the burn pile fo’sho’. But me? I had plans for this little guy…
See, I’ve been checking out these nifty little picture frame makeovers on Pinterest and such, and seems that all these brilliant folk are taking old picture frames and repurposing them into nifty little earring hangers. Now I love me some recyclin’, so I figured: I know how to use a can of spray paint, so what’s keeping me from having a cute little place to hang my earrings? Not to mention these displays would come in handy when I sell my jewelry at events, because people can easily see all the merchandise. So…off to the thrift store I went to fetch a suitable picture frame, and little gingerbread dude is what I came back with. That worked out nicely because I figured I could hang bracelets and such on those little pegs, at least once I replaced the missing one. : )
SO, I started tearing the backing off of that bad boy….
And my truly rockin’ husband acquainted me with some manner of wire screen stuff. It wasn’t exactly the type of screen you’d have in your front door, it was a little heftier than that. He introduced me to that and a pair of tin snips, and off I went. I cut a piece suitable for the back side.
Then the adventure really began….
Now my friend Jamie, who I’ve known over 20 years (wow, that makes me sound so old!!) and is the most amazing do-it-yourself-er on the planet, can attest to the fact that I don’t do boy jobs. Yes, boy jobs…you know… like killing spiders, replacing light fixtures, and using tools. Especially power tools. Those things are testosterone territory for me. This is common knowledge.
But yesterday, I used an electric staple gun. It was a little above my paygrade…too much power for me! It was loud, jerky, and scary. That sucker knocked me back about a foot when I pulled the trigger. Seriously, people, my life flashed before my eyes for a sec! But anyhoo…a few of those crazy staples got the screen fixed to the back of the frame, I glued a brand-new Shaker peg into the missing hole ($3 for a dozen-bag at Hobby Lobby) and once that was dry it was time to give the thing a new look. I used a bottle of oiled-bronze colored spray-paint that I’d used on another project recently, and it is really pretty. It looks chocolatey brown-black when it’s dry, with a little glimmer of bronze underneath. I gave it a couple of coats and let it dry. Lovely.
Then it was time to make a pretty backing for the screen. Now this part is optional, but if you put some sort of backing behind the screen, then it looks a lot nicer if you decide to hang your earring hanger doo-dad on the wall. So I ironed a piece of pretty fabric and laid it out to affix it. The problem is, I really didn’t want to use that crazy staple gun again, (because I really don’t like going to the hospital, and I was sure that my clumsiness had already been given its portion of mercy that day.) But…hot glue covers a multitude of sins, people… so the glue gun was heated up and I went to town. This was a much less dangerous way for me to put two things together. When it was finished I hung my earrings on it and voila! Here’s the finished product:
Tah-daaahh! Super easy, very cheap, and a heck of a lot more aesthetically pleasing than a gingerbread-man-whatchamacallit hanging around to hurt people’s eyes. Not to mention…extremely useful! I love taking something funky and turning it into something pretty and functional. Now I don’t have to go digging for my dangly earrings in a bowl when I want to wear a pair.
Could you put one of these to good use?
Monkey Town Read-Along: Week 1
The back cover of the book states, in bold print at the top:
KNOWING ALL THE ANSWERS ISN’T AS IMPORTANT AS ASKING THE QUESTIONS
For some things, this statement doesn’t sit very well with me. For example, if I’m going in for surgery, it’s not a motto that I’d like to see hanging on the wall next to my surgeon’s med school diploma. I’d kind of like him to know the answers when it comes to the why and where and when and how of cutting me open. Because surgery is something that must be precise. There’s not a lot of room for doubting and questioning, you know what I’m sayin’? I like my surgeons to have lots and lots of definitive answers…not questions.
But faith is not surgery. No matter how hard we try to make it so, it’s really not exact and precise. In fact it can get pretty messy and even uncomfortable at times. That’s why it’s faith. Scripture, the scripture that I believe to be wholly inspired by God, even tells us that “faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we cannot see.” (Heb 11:1) I think that in almost every way, our entire lives are spent pressing toward the place where we become content with that exact definition of faith.
Last week I started a new summer read-along that I’m doing with some folks over at my new friend Marla’s blog. The book is called Evolving in Monkey Town by Rachel Held Evans. It’s about one woman’s journey through the questions we all (likely) ask of our faith. She just had the cojones to ask them out loud, on paper, through thousands of copies out in front of the world. If she can be so bold, can’t we??
Part of the reason it’s taken me a week to write this post is because I felt the need to establish a bit of context for my comments about this book. Much like Rachel, I felt like I needed to tell my own personal faith story in order for anyone to know where I was coming from in reference to this book or my own questions about faith. So I took the time to go back and piece together story of how my faith was born. If you’re interested, check it out here, but be warned, it is looooooong.
Okay so let’s get on with it, shall we?
This week’s assignment was only to read and comment on the preface and introduction to the book. Lemme tell ya…that was plenty for me. Here are some things that stood out to me:
- Deep breath…..I forgive you, Rachel, for referring to apes (via Koko the Gorilla and Dian Fossey references) as monkeys. It’s a common problem and a personal pet peeve of mine. I am going to assume you did so on purpose so as to keep up the clever reference to the Scopes Monkey Trial throughout the book. Enough about that. Deep breath….
- The introduction is actually entitled “Why I Am An Evolutionist.” I thought this was a very good use of this sometimes-dirty word. I don’t really get what the big deal is. To evolve means to change into something new… evolution is actually defined by the good folks at Merriam-Webster as “a process of change in a certain direction.” By that definition, all of us are evolving, either into something more and better than we are now or something less that we hoped we’d be. The direction is what matters. As Christians, we are called to constantly becoming more Christ-like every day. That is an evolution if I’ve ever heard of it, and certainly in one specific direction. So if our actual being is changing to become more like our Savior, then wouldn’t our understanding of that process (our faith) constantly be changing along with it? It would have to. I know that because of God in my life, I understand more about Him, myself, and others around me that I ever have. Therefore my faith itself has changed. For example, I love my husband. He is one of the most important parts of my life. But when I learned, through studying the Word and prayer, that he could not be THE most important thing in my life, the way I interacted with him changed. I no longer looked to him to give me my identity or my worth. That’s a job he couldn’t do. Those things only come from God, so I have to go to Him with those needs. When I do, my foundation is firm and I can live confidently and love my husband better because I am not expecting him to do things that he cannot do. My faith in God is actually bigger because that understanding has changed…it has evolved into a faith that allows me to put God before my husband, which enables me to honor both. So I am not scared to say that indeed our faith evolves. In fact, if it does not…are we living fully and growing at all?
- My faith began with lots of questions. I have a feeling it will always include and even end with questions upon questions. That doesn’t scare me either. I feel like if I had everything all settled and felt like God was figured out and I could explain every miraculous event and I had a quick, neat little response for everything God-related… then how big could God really be? Isn’t the fact that we humans cannot figure him out and explain his reasoning and all that just more proof that He is in fact, God? God is enigmatic, and if He weren’t, then what would about him would be worth worshipping? I have experienced many cool things in my life, but none of them were worth reshaping my whole world around. God is. And the sheer fact that he is so awe-inducing and beyond my tiny understanding is what makes Him worth giving my whole life to. I know there will always be things about Him and His decisions that I do not understand. But if I allow them to produce anxiety and fear and doubt in me, then really I think He’s keeping something from me that I need and I question His motives. If I do that, then do I really trust Him? Not so much. If I believe that God is good and loves me and knows what is best for me, then I’ll understand that He gives me knowledge about what I need to know (and what I can handle) when I need to know it. I trust that whatever I don’t know yet is just because I have what I need to know right now. He gets to call the shots when it comes to tell me more details. I am okay with that because I know that He gives me only good things.
- What about monkeys (APES!!) and evolution and old earth vs. new earth and evolution and all that stuff?? I do not believe science and faith to be mutually exclusive at all. The bible says that God created everything in 6 days. It also says that a day in the Lord is like a thousand years. So does that mean He created everything in 6000 years? Hmmmm. I think this: God created everything. All I have to do is look at a newborn baby or see the Fibonacci sequence in nature to know that there is a rhyme and reason to all things. Things like the way food chains work, the way that our body heals itself, and the vast diversity of species on the earth and deep in the sea… those incredible things don’t point to a happy accident that resulted in a long line of events leading up to the birth of human beings to me. No way. There is purpose in everything, everywhere. Those things point to a Creator who knew what He had in mind when it was created. It doesn’t matter how long it took for Him to create it. The point is…whether is was 6 days or 6000 years or 60 billion years, humans couldn’t have made it happen. A couple of molecules and some heat couldn’t have done it. It’s beyond our understanding…it’s an unfathomable task, regardless of the time it took. I am not dismissing the discussion about it, but again, I love the wonder it creates in me….it’s not going to shake my faith in any way shape or form. God chose men to breathe his Word into. Therefore, when they penned the writings that He knew would eventually be the compilation of what He wanted to say to us in that way, He had to allow those scribes to put it in language that we could wrap our minds around. So whether he had allowed the scribe who penned Genesis to say “6 days” or “6 billion years” we would still question it. It’s amazing that God created everything and He still loves and cares for us. He is outside of our complete understanding, outside of time and space. The fact that He’s let us in on even some of His big story is amazing.
- On page 18 of the introduction, Rachel uses this sentence: So fearful of losing their grip on faith, they squeeze the life out of it. She is referring to fundamentalists, or people who “think God is pretty much figured out already” and He’s “done telling us anything new.” (pg. 17) I’ve known a few people like this in my day, haven’t you? Those churchy folk who refuse to allow their children to participate in science class for fear of what they might learn. Those people who don’t believe in healing because that only happened “back in bible times.” Those church leaders who insist their congregants dress a certain way and cover any tattoos and cut their hair because by golly, that’s what Jesus would have looked like if he’d had the modern conveniences of a suit and a shave. Um, yeah…those folks. Don’t they just seem to drain the life out of everything? If that’s what people want to believe, then that’s fine…but don’t go slapping a Jesus fish on it. Because that’s not what Jesus was like. He questioned things. He rebuked the folks who looked like they had it all together. He shot straight to the heart when people came around wanting to look cool on the outside. He didn’t have time for all that. He was busy trying to bring life to people. And I would rather do that too. I’d rather focus on bringing life to people around me rather than holding tight to the way someone should dress or act or think or whatever. I’m perfectly okay with asking questions. As long as they inspire wonder and awe for God, rather than causing us to simply grasp for knowledge just for the sake of feeling like we know something more than the next dude.
Okay then, there’s a lot more that I could say about this, but I need to get started on my next reading assignment anyway. If you’ve made it through this long-arse post and you have another sec, why not leave a comment telling me a faith-question (or maybe an anti-faith question?) that makes you a little uncomfortable. It may end up being one of the same question asked in this book later on. I can’t wait to find out.
created as creator
This has been such a fun week. Since it was my first week being out of school, I’ve not had any set schedule and no place I’ve had to be. I purposely scheduled fun and relaxing things to do every single day this week. I’ve had lunch dates with several of my girl friends, met up with a brand new friend, shopped a little, caught up with folks over long phone conversations, slept in (okay, 7am…that’s late for me nowadays) and shoved my face into lots of good books for hours. All of these things have been wonderfully therapeutic for me after going 150% hard all school year. I will miss my amazing students, but summer is here and I am so loving it.
More than anything though, I have enjoyed the various creative projects I’ve worked on this week. I made all of the invitations for our Freedom Party that’s coming up next month. It was so fun to pick out things that went together to make them pleasing to the eye. I had a blast with that. I made some more jewelry this week and started my mosaic made up of all the credit cards that we’ve helped folks cut up in each of our 6 FPU classes! That is a project that’s been a long time coming, and I’m so excited that I finally get to make it happen after years of waiting. I’ve also put together a lot of handmade gifts such as scrapbook frames and handmade greeting cards. It definitely looks like a scrapbooking convention has exploded all over my dining room table. Of that there can be no doubt.
But in the middle of cutting and gluing and sewing and tearing and matching…I thought to myself: why can’t I just do this for a living? It is so much fun. It just makes me feel….alive.
I don’t think I actually have aspirations to chuck my teaching career to make greeting cards for a living (at least not right this minute!) But saying that it made me feel alive was no exaggeration. It was the general feeling of putting my creativity to work to make something out of nothing that really got me. It’s awesome to make something functional out of raw pieces that are otherwise just lying around. Creating something beautiful out of something ordinary. I could see myself spending a lot of time doing that.
But hold up a second…with so many other things on my heart that I love to do, why do I even find these little art projects worthwhile? I mean, I love teaching. I love meeting a child who comes from a messed up family and showing them that they are somebody and they are worth something and they really can do more than they think they can. That’s amazing. My heart also burns for women and children who are caught in the sex trade, forced to do and see and hear things that no one should ever have to do or see or hear. I want to advocate for them, partner with them through their restoration, see them healed. That’s a worthwhile cause to spend my time on. I love cooking meals for an overly busy mom or an elderly couple or a person who’s recovering from surgery or whatever, just so they have one less thing to worry about. Isn’t that the stuff I should focus on, and quit sitting here at the dining room table making pretty little things?
I believe the answer is YES. And NO.
“Wasting” time on making something beautiful is like “wasting” time admiring the clouds or listening to birds sing or breathing in the smells of spring. It’s appreciating the beauty that God has given all around us and thanking Him for it. It’s worship. It’s what He made us for in the first place.
And this week I’ve become convinced that when we take this appreciation of beauty one step further and desire to experience it so much that we actually seek after things to make beautiful, we’ve partnered with God as the ones who have been made in His image. We’ve been made in the image of THE Creator, so of course we would want to take nothing and make it into something lovely. We are the created becoming the creator.
So is it that unreasonable to think that when I’m making a pretty little handmade card (that someone else will thoughtfully choose for a specific person, write a cheerful message inside of, then give it to that person who will read it, feel special, and smile!) that I’m stepping up into a moment of being closer to the heart of my God? Doesn’t the same thing happen when someone plays a beautiful piece of music, or paints a breathtaking picture, or pens a striking piece of writing, or designs a thought-provoking graphic for a web site, or uses their hands to build something new, or plants a garden, or puts together the exact combination of ingredients to make a delicious food, or even when we tidy up our home and make it welcoming for guests? Beauty happens.
Much like the virtue of truth, beauty only comes from one place. It is a gift that has been created by God, and given to us to spread around. When we make something lovely out of nothing, God has allowed us to momentarily carry out some of His best work…creation.
Maybe this all sounds too flowery to you, and you’re rolling your eyes thinking I need to get back on a schedule and get back to business. There’s a time for all that too, I agree. But for now, I’m perfectly content to spend some time creating alongside my Creator.
How about you? Why not go ask him what He’d like to create with you today?
A chance
Inspired
Oh no honey, it is YOU who inspires ME to do my best.
To Be More Free 