Solitude....

Today I am alone for the first time in a week-and-a-half. Oh, I have had moments alone; even an hour or two, here or there. And, when not alone, I have been delighting in the company of my favorite people in all the world. But I am a person who needs solitude. True solitude, where I know I will not be interrupted by anyone elses whims or attentions. Perhaps that is why I have chosen to weave time-intensive tapestries on a loom that takes up so much space that nobody else really fits in the room with it and me. My hours of solitude refill me when I feel used up and exhausted.

I feel guilty to need such a selfish thing as time to myself. Or at the very least, I feel guilty for admitting it. But even Jesus needed time away from all the people who surrounded him, and even time away from his closest followers, family, and friends. So, taking Christ as my example, I admit that I am delighting in my alone-ness this morning, as we are home from a wonderful family time, and my husband has gone back to his work. The pets respect my need for solitude (most of the time.) They allow me the wilderness of my studio. I have work awaiting me there, and a cup of tea to take along for my solitary sojourn.

My breath is beginning to expand. The work and the quiet are beginning to refill me. Thank you so much, Lord, for showing us how important it is to find quiet solitude in the busyness of our times and lives.

You Are What You Eat....

Click to enlarge. Be sure to look at these flavors!

We are all pretty aware of what eating the wrong things can do over time to our bodies. I don't know of anyone who would feed their children just sugar. And we know how important it is to exercise our bodies, as well, even when we may not do as much of it as we would like to or as we should. But many people act as if the body is the only thing they need to mind; to care for and feed in a healthy way and to exercise. Not so. There is much more to us than our bodies. In fact, I believe it is more important to feed and exercise our SELVES; our spirits and souls, for lack of a better term. Perhaps the word character works, just as well, with better understanding for more people.

I have been trying to meditate more lately. It is a discipline I have almost as much trouble with as I do aerobics, I admit. But, in truth, we meditate all the time. We 'think on' things. And what we feed ourselves with, what we see, and hear, and read, and discuss, and look at; all these things influence what we are meditating on. What we 'think on' becomes so easily who we are. We have all seen the studies about the kids who play nothing but violent video games and who watch violent television and movies and then become kids who act out in violent ways.

There is so much to look at and to fill our minds and hearts with that is the moral equivalent of junk food, at best. Those things do our character little good, and often much damage.

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." (Prov. 4:23) We are responsible for the things that we 'think on,' just as we are responsible for what effect it has on our behavior. "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." (Luke 6:45)

If our body is 'a temple,' surely our minds and what we put in them is the most precious part of that temple. We don't have to sit in an awkward position and chant unknown phrases to meditate. We are meditating when we drive around town, running errands. We are meditating, feeding our character, when we sit at the computer or the television and decide what to look at and to allow to feed us.

My favorite scripture speaks of the 'healthy diet' for our souls and character:

..."Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." (Phil. 4:8)

Photos taken at the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, CA by KSpoering

All will be well.......

 

I imagine you have seen this image of our friend and neighbor in the past day. It has 'gone viral' on the internet, following the bombings in Boston. I have decided to post it here anyway. The Boston tragedy was too close to home. I have a wonderful son, a beautiful daughter-in-law and two precious grandchildren in Boston. They have friends and colleagues who were at the Marathon. I know the street where it happened; I have walked that street. But even if that was not the case for me personally, a tragedy like that is always too close to home.

Yesterday was the kind of day when I needed a kind friend like Mr. Rogers, a longtime and familiar friend in our house. My father had been taken to the hospital the night before. And then Boston...

But my friend Fred Rogers is right. There is always hope to be seen within tragedy. There is more good than there is bad, and I am convinced with all that I know to be true that Good will overcome the evil in the end. If it has not happened yet, then it is not the end, as has been said by others. All will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of thing shall be made well. My heart goes out to the beautiful city of Boston, and to those who suffered loss there. My heart is full of gratitude for the helpers who helped there, and to the helpers who are caring for my Dad right now.

My heart is encouraged by those whom I know to be praying, and by those who work with their hands to help, offering up their work as their prayers.

I will be gone for awhile, spending some time with my parents in California. So my loom will not be where I am sending up  my own prayers for a bit, though my heart will stay active in prayer.  I will be looking for helpers wherever I am. And I hope that those who are also looking for helpers might just look around and see me doing what I can do to help, too.

Risen, Indeed!

I don't think I have ever seen the power of resurrection as clearly in the past as I have this year! Last Sunday afternoon, we traveled half-way across the mountains to meet our son and get our grandchildren, who spent the week with us. We drove through snow and below-zero temperatures. On their side of the mountains, our son's family had almost a foot of snow. It was grey and winter still had a firm hold on Colorado. On Thursday, before they were to go home on Friday, the kids hunted Easter eggs in our yard, where it was warmer, but all was still grey and brown.

But this morning, on our early way to the sunrise service at church, I told my husband we were seeing an "Easter miracle!" Our neighbors have a row of daffodils along the hedge between their house and the one next to it. The flowers usually bloom a few at a time, over several weeks. None were open yesterday. But this morning I truly believe every single one of them was open, showing a riot of new life!

When we got home a few hours later, I pointed out to my husband that our forsythia bush and the apricot tree are both blooming, the forsythia stretching up into the old apricot branches. I know they were not in bloom when I worked in the garden yesterday!

 

All around the yard, around the neighborhood, and through the town, trees and flowers are bursting  back into life after their winter death. What do the seasons tell us, especially this season? They tell us that life will come again after death, and it can be even more beautiful than what we now know.

He is Risen. He is Risen, indeed. And all will be well, and will be very well, because of that resurrection.

Ain't Gonna Study War NO More!

Just to make your day, as it has made mine!

(Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and handsome company. Man, I want a back-up group like that!)

Barriers....

We are experts at putting up barriers, at shutting down, of protecting our closed (and often tightly locked) doors. We have put up barriers between ourselves and God, and between ourselves and other people. Our 'busyness' helps us justify our barriers. And we try to fool ourselves that we do, too, have people close to us; just look at all our Facebook and Twitter Friends! Look at all those we 'know' all around the world...

 

But, in reality, I can count on one hand the friends who truly know me, who take part in my  daily life, who share my worries and my small delights. I think of my Grandmothers, who lived in such a tiny world in comparison to the one I live in now. Especially, I think of my maternal grandmother. She lived in a tiny Kansas town that didn't even justify a dot on most maps. There were maybe 150 people in the town in the good years.  But all of those people knew my grandmother. They knew her habits, and if she hadn't walked 'to town' to get her mail, there would be several to call and check to see that she was OK. They had eaten homemade bread in her small kitchen. They knew who and where her children were, what was growing in her garden, who was coming to visit. If she had rough spots, they knew it and helped her get through them. They were neighbors and friends in the very true sense of the word. She did not lock her doors. She did not build barriers. Her life was open to those around her, and I believe it made it easier for her to live a life open to God, as well. She had very little material wealth, but she was a very rich person.

 

We build barriers because we are afraid. We are afraid that, if we open our doors to God, there might be nothing behind the door. If we open ourselves to other people, they might hurt us or take advantage of us. I love to watch people, but it is a rare thing anymore that anyone looks back at me. And occasionally, when someone looks up and catches my glance and my smile, they look almost shocked or embarrassed to see someone interact with them in that small way. Most people walk looking down, or into their cellphones. Many keep headphones on, or chatter away on their phones to someone at a safe distance. They have huge DO NOT DISTURB signs written in their body language, that speaks to everyone around them, and to God. If we cannot love man, whom we have seen, how can we love God, Whom we have not seen, and Who is best seen in our interactions with other people? (1John 4:20)

You know best the barriers you have built. If you are like me, there are some pretty big and strong ones surrounding you. I am not a person who lets down the barriers very well. I am socially shy, but as I type that, I know that it is also an excuse, a barrier I have put up. If I can just let the cracks in my stone walls open up little bits at a time, I do believe that God will help me in tearing down some of my barriers. He will let His Son shine in, and beautiful and risky relationships will come in to make my life the rich one He wants me to have.

(A note: The photos in this post were all taken by me in Paris last spring. )

Nativity Tapestries

This is the Nativity Tapestry that will hang on the right side of the church's lectern. It has a nativity image of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. I especially wanted Mary to be in an intimate, motherly pose, as I have seen so many images of her not even looking at her child. I love the words in Kathy Mattea's song, "Mary Did You Know?" that ask if she knew that  'when you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God?"  I have felt that I kissed the face of God when I have kissed my own children or my grandchildren, and even our foster babies. But that would have been even more literal for Mary. I wanted to show a mother's wonder and unconditional love in this image of Mary. 

Included in this tapestry are lilies, which I was told are a flower that is symbolic of Mary. The color blue was also chosen by the church as a color identified with her. Most of the symbolism in this tapestry is in the border. It includes a dove of peace, which is also a symbol of the Holy Spirit, which 'came over her' at her conception and 'filled her' during her time of pregnancy (Luke 1).

The border also has a grape vine, for He is 'the vine' and we are 'the branches.' (Luke 15:5) I wanted this to give us inclusion in the story. We are not alone on the vine. We are to live in community, with other branches and grapes, and with the vine itself.

The banner proclaims Peace, as He came to proclaim peace. This was very important to me to have included, as I am a pacifist, as are the couple who commissioned these tapestries for the church. And, of course, this is also something we share with Jesus, who was a pacifist and peacemaker. (Matthew 5: 9, 39)

This tapestry will hang to the left of the church's lectern. Each of the tapestries are 20 inches wide and 40 inches long. This tapestry is of a man whom I have always referred to as "The Shepherd," though the commissioners see him as Joseph. The images I have always seen of Joseph are of an old man, alongside his very young bride. I did not want that image, though it may have been somewhat accurate for the time. So I have left the identity of the man ambiguous, to be whomever the viewer wants him to be; Joseph, or a shepherd, or the Great Shepherd, or a grown Jesus.

There is more symbolism in this tapestry. The man is a symbol himself, of a gentle shepherd whom creatures trust and love. Alongside Him, the fox and the sheep can live in harmony. The fox is a symbol of the son of God's humble humanity. Jesus reminded us of that when he said " "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." (Matthew 8:20) The fox reminds me to have compassion on those who do not have a 'place to lay their heads,' for they have much in common with my Savior. Jesus also told his followers to 'go tell the fox' of all He could do. (Luke 13:32)  I also chose to include the fox because I want the images in this tapestry to be familiar to the viewers. Red foxes are one of the animals we delight in here in the mountains. The foxes keep the moles and the mice down, and there is nothing more delightful to watch than romping fox pups!

The sheep is a common image in religious art. We are the sheep, He is our Shepherd. We hear His voice and He knows and cares for us, so we willingly follow Him. (John 10:27)

The Mule-eared deer is also a familiar sight in this part of the world, and one of my favorite animals for their beauty and gracefulness. There are a number of scriptures that reference the deer, but the one that made me include a deer in this tapestry is Psalm 42. It has been turned into several of my favorite hymns. One can be heard here,   and another one here. These two songs truly make me thirst for what the world does not have to offer, as the deer thirsts for the water. We go down to the lake almost every evening when we are at our mountain cabin, to watch the deer going down to quench their thirst. The deer is to remind us to go to the One who can quench our thirst, as well.

There is another dove in this tapestry. It is a mourning dove. In fact, it is a specific dove whom I have been privileged to know for a number of years. She sits outside my studio window. The image I used in the tapestry was from a photo I took of her through my studio window. God wants us to be 'wise as serpents,' while out in the dangers of the world, but also 'as innocent as doves.' (Matthew10:16) The dove outside my window does no harm. She even manages to live in harmony with those she should fear. Here is more about my dove, in an earlier post.

The blooms on the tree branches above the figures are dogwood blooms. There is a religious story (not Biblical) about the symbolism of the dogwood tree. I included the blooms partly because of that story, but mostly because I love the blossoms, having first seen them when visiting my son in Boston. (Also, we lived on a street called Dogwood Ct. for 17 years, so I included them as a piece of personal history. Hey, I can do that: I'm the artist!)

In the border, I included a branch of Rose of Sharon blooms, as they are a flower which symbolizes beauty and purity in the Bible. And the border also includes the anchor, which is something to cling to, to hold us 'steadfast and sure' in our faith. (Hebrews 6:19) I posted more about the tradition of the anchor here.

 I have previously posted about the Grace banner here, but I think this bears repeating from that post: I hope those who view these tapestries as they worship will be ever mindful of God's Amazing Grace.