The Passionate Heart of Youth

My three daughters went to dance camp last week. This is their recital performance.

As a child, I never knew the words "worship" and "dance" could be used in the same sentence.
I am grateful that my children have opportunities to express themselves at such a young age-- body, soul, and spirit-- in worship of the One they love.

(The whispering in the background is another dance mom and myself enjoying the seriousness with which our daughters approached this dance. They owned their worship.)

The Un- God

Last week my nine year old and I were thinking together about how God is The Uncreated Creator. No beginning, no end. He was there from the start, forming all that we know by His creative genius and might. The variety He has imagined is staggering.

Soon our conversation turned a corner and we contemplated how God is The Unmoved Mover. Nothing shakes, shifts or shatters Him. He goes where He pleases, when He pleases. He is a rock and solid foundation, charging Himself with keeping the rest of our universe held together and in motion.


Both Ellie and I were drawn into worship reflecting on these truths, and it made me wonder...
what other "Un"- words can be used to describe this God that we worship?

Not Just for the Refrigerator Anymore

In 2005, Korean artist, Yeondoo Jung, did a delicious photographic series called, Wonderland, which interpreted children's drawings.

In this case, it is life which mimics art.

Cinderella


The Magician Turned the Whale into a Flower

Little Red Riding Hood

Miss Sparkle Sprinkles the Magic

Take a look at these other fascinating series by Yeondoo Jung:
Documentary Nostalgia
Bewitched

Meaning-Full Gift

Paula, who participated in our last SPS Coffee Cup study in the Book of Ruth, wrote this after making these coffee cuffs to raise money for clean water:

Between shopping for the shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child and the Samaritan's Purse catalog that sits in the basket in the bathroom, [my five-year-old] just hasn't understood why we would give toys to the kids but nothing to the moms. Wouldn't the moms and dads feel bad if they didn't get anything? If she wouldn't have held onto this idea of giving something to the whole family, I would never have followed through beyond the shoeboxes.

Last night as I sat sewing, she made tiny pictures of families to put on the backs of the cards all the while chattering away about how excited these kids are going to be to have clean water just like we do! My heart has been pricked - by the Holy Spirit moving in my daughter's life and by thinking about those moms, who are more tired than I, who really need a cool drink of water.

What I've been thinking about is that my part in the "rest of the story" is to just do the next thing. Am I willing to do my part in God's big picture when I can't see the end result. I don't know how taking care of a needy family will impact my children. I can't see if a water system will really make a difference in another family's life. Who knows if this family will ever get to hear about God because we sent money for water. But, my part is to just do my part and let God take care of my children's hearts as well as the physical and spiritual needs of another family. Ruth followed Naomi, Boaz took care of a desperate woman, I work on a simple project with my
family and send money to another family that is in need of water - living water. Today that is my role in the rest of the story.

Childhood Games

I'm designing a large scale collage using imagery from childhood games. Depending on our ages, these were popular at some point in our household:

Hi-Ho Cherry-O
Rook
Uno
Sorry
Yatzee
Battleship
Monopoly
Rack-O

Help me build a list. What were some of your favorite childhood games?

The Artist's Formative Stage

I think it was Picasso who said that everyone is an artist and the challenge as we grow is to keep from having it trained out of us.

When I was a kid, my mom taught me to make shavings from crayons. Then we'd press them with a hot iron between sheets of wax paper so they melted into a kaleidoscope of color. After that we'd cut out stained glass window frames and put the colored creation inside. Hanging in the window with the sun shining through, our homemade stained-glass windows took our breath away.

My kindergarten teacher taught me to make a turkey by tracing my hand. Did you do that too?

What are some of your first memories about creating something?