Hiking In Grace & Capturing My View

I Hated High School: Art Journey, Part 2

04.30.15

In High School I didn’t end up taking an Art class with the exception of a single semester of Photography in my Senior year. In High School I focused more on the music (instrumental and vocal); choir, chamber choir, county honors choir, marching band and concert band. In my senior year I was the VP of Tri-M, which is the music honor society. Being in Tri-M awarded me the ability to wear a pink tassel at graduation, which, at the time to me, was very cool; as it meant I had done something different and wasn’t wearing the same tassel as everyone else.

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In my Junior year, I disliked High School so much that I wanted to sign up for concurrent enrollment for my Senior year. Attending High School for the first four classes of the day and then going to take classes at the local community college for the remainder of the day seemed like a great way to escape the High School social scene. I worked hard to maintain the necessary GPA to attain the concurrent enrollment status for my Senior year. Besides, if I did concurrent enrollment then Mom and Dad would have to provide me a car of my own to drive from the High School to the college as they could not possibly taxi me around. (Okay, so I had some ulterior motives for doing concurrent enrollment other than just getting an education.)

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In High School I had what my kids now call a Padawan braid. (Any Star Wars fans out there? We just called it a rat-tail.) My best friend and I both had them and I kept mine well past my senior year.

As my Senior year began, I had a friend who was in Art School. A whole college devoted to nothing but Art I thought that was pretty ‘out there’. I thought it was so cool to be able to pursue a life as an artist but never thought of myself being “qualified” to do such a thing. I was encouraged to at least take a Drawing 101 class at the community college in my spring semester. I loved it so much that I declared Art as my major and worked toward a degree in Fine Art.

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I loved all my art studio classes and my art history classes. Taking Art History finally made me appreciate my parents ~~dragging me kicking and screaming~~ taking me to Europe and ~~forcing me to walk all over the place to look at boring old paintings and museums and architecture~~ enabling me to see first-hand; great works of art, beautiful buildings, and captivating cities all over Europe. (My Aunt and Uncle living in Europe at the time made it possible for these trips as I was growing up.)

Again, in college, my favorite teachers were my art studio class teachers. I don’t remember any of my other teachers’ names but I could name for you all of my Art teachers. I lived for my studio classes. I got to be good friends with many of the “Lifers” too. Those were senior citizens that would audit art classes over and over just for the instruction and the fun of it.

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In my second full year of college, I ended up following the same type of path as in my high school senior year of “doing something different” and attended a meeting and ended up as the VP of the Student Art League, then as the President of the Student Art League the following semester. (The guy I had a crush on described me as the “Art League President from hell”… but I got the job done. Let us remember that I didn’t come to know Christ until a bit later. We were different people when we first met. I am glad I was able to change his viewpoint as he is now my husband and best friend and we have four gorgeous kids.)

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While in college I found that I really like watercolor. I had not painted much since childhood, most of my work was done in pencil. Pencil is cheap. I had never taken a painting class before college. Acrylics were okay but I enjoyed watercolor much more. I still have never worked in oils. Maybe someday I will become a “Lifer” at a local college and then I will take a class in oil painting. For now, Watercolor is my preferred medium when painting and I still work a lot in pencil.

If you haven’t read part 1 of my Art Journey, you can find it here.

Wednesday Wanderings: Oregon, Part 7

04.29.15

Thank you for joining me for Wednesday Wandering. Today we will continue down the Oregon coast.

It has been quite a while since I posted an Oregon Wandering Wednesday.

The day these photos were taken it was a very stormy day. Lots of low cloud cover and rough ocean was the scenery for the day.

We stopped at an over-look to see what is called The Devil’s Punchbowl. I am sure it is quite a sight to see when it is high tide and the water in the bowl looks like it is boiling. However we caught the punchbowl at low tide so there wasn’t much to see.

One of the lighthouses we visited had the coolest bench just outside.

And only now as I posted this photo did I realize that the rest of the back had constellations carved into it. I was in a hurry to not get rained on when we were there.

Thanks for hiking along today!

Let’s Start at the Very Beginning: Art Journey, Part 1

04.24.15

“It’s a very good place to start, when you read you begin with A-B-C when you sing you begin with…”

So how many of you read that title and had a familiar melody pop into your mind?

I’ve been a Sound of Music fangirl as long as I can remember.

If I had said this title out loud at my house several voices would have finished it in song. I love that my kids enjoy classic musicals and modern broadway too. I love that they have a taste for all sorts of music not just one genre.

My daughter and I recently went to see Wicked… but that is a story for a whole other post.

A few posts ago I shared with you my future hopes for this space. The more I have thought about it, the more I think I should start at the very beginning of my story; because without the foundation of my story my journey back to art would make little sense. Why a journey back to art?

I have always liked to do art.

I remember a very long time ago, honestly can’t remember how old I was, I just remember that it was probably before I began Kindergarten, my mother set up a little table in our kitchen and gave me some paint and a fold out picture that almost covered the top of the little table I was working on. I remember it being Jack and the Beanstalk. While Mom scrubbed woodwork, I painted. I loved it!

The Arts were always my favorite subjects in school. Art class ran equal with music class. I wasn’t too great with the other subjects. I lived for Art and Music. Every year, in every grade, my music teachers and art teachers were my favorite people.

I remember in 4th grade having drawn a self-portrait I was so proud of. I remember looking at it stapled up on the bulletin board and my fourth-grader-self thinking that it was one of the best pictures I had ever drawn and thinking it actually looked like me. I knew my mom had it somewhere so I called her up and asked if I could have it. (Sorry Dad.) My poor dad ended up digging through lots of boxes in the attic but his day in the cramped attic was successful and now I can share with you one of my first “I liked what I did” pictures.

On the opposite page of this portrait was my life story, written at the ripe old age of 9.

“I love art also I hate school.”

Interesting, I don’t remember liking Science class. And I know the line about “liking ALL my teachers so far” was a bold-face lie, but do you write that you hated your 3rd grade teacher when she is still teaching in the room next door? And is likely to read what you’ve written?

I had to blur some stuff out because, believe it or not, my mom still works at the same place she did 35 years ago. She’s never worked anywhere else. Job longevity like that now-a-days is almost unheard of!

And I’ve written about the friendship with that adopted girl from Binghamton, New York before.

I ended up traveling several times to Europe since my Aunt and Uncle and cousins lived there. When I was older, I appreciated being dragged all over Europe so much more than I did in 5th grade when I went on my first trip to Europe. And that is also a story for another post.

The rest of the Art Journey…

Part 2

Part 3

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God’s Human Instrument of Rescue

03.31.15

When the children of Israel originally went down into Egypt is was for a good thing. God sent them there to save them from a famine that was coming. What began as a blessing of rescue from famine degenerated into a life of bondage and oppression.

God heard the cries of his chosen children and sent deliverance through a human instrument named Moses. He used Moses to lead them out of bondage.

When I first came to Christ it was at a small country church and originally was a good thing. God sent me there to rescue me from His judgment that was coming. But just as the children of Israel, what began as a blessing of rescue degenerated into a life of bondage and oppression. Man’s opinions were cloaked and preached as though they were God’s doctrine. In a word, Legalism.

Also, like the children of Israel, He heard the cries of his child.

He heard my cries. I am His chosen child.

I knew I needed deliverance to get out of where I was and I asked God to send someone. I asked for God to send me someone who could lead me out of my mental bondage that resulted from spending years in a legalistic system. I pleaded for a woman who would be a mentor and a friend.

And you know what?

God answered me.

Several different unrelated people gave me the same woman’s name.

You can’t deny that God was at work.

God sent a human instrument, a Moses, to lead me out of my bondage, a bondage of clinical depression that resulted from legalistic thinking, and there was no mistaking it.

You know what was so wonderful about knowing that she is exactly who God sent?

I could trust her completely because in trusting her, I was trusting God.

It made hearing hard words and taking advice so much easier. It removed fear, doubt and questioning of motives because I could trust that she was there to help me not hurt me.

What a relief!

Is there something you need to be rescued from?

Ever think of asking God to send you someone to guide you through it?

Ask God to send you a Moses.

He will.

God Has Purpose For Your Heartache

03.27.15

Moses fled from Pharaoh through the desert not knowing he would do it again one day while leading a million or more people.

When you’ve travelled a certain path, you are able to later lead others down that path.

When I was a little girl, my dad would lead our family up a mountain in Virginia called Old Rag.

I grew to love that hike.

Little did I know I would one day lead a few friends over that mountain.

It was an easy for me to lead them because I had done it many times in my youth.

(Although the ending of that particular trip was rather difficult but you can read about that escapade HERE.)

A few years ago my husband and I hiked a trail we never thought we would.

Leaving our home church.

The place where I received Christ.

The place where I grew as a Christian.

The place where we surrendered to full-time service.

The place where we spoke our wedding vows.

The place where we brought our children before the Lord when they were born.

The place where my husband baptized my mom.

The place where my dad was baptized while I was on the mission field.

It was one of the hardest things we have ever done.

To leave a place you love and people you love and you are forced to walk away feeling the deep sting of rejection.

Though it was difficult, I can now see a bigger picture.

Not only did we need to leave to grow in grace but we also were being sent away by God for a future purpose as Moses was.

It is the same for all the difficult trials God allows us to pass through. The hike through our valleys opens doors to minister in ways we never can foresee.

Moses didn’t just lead the people through the wilderness.

He walked with them.

When we emerge from our valleys we are equipped to sit with the broken and listen and empathize, having truly felt the same hurt. To speak words of Truth and encouragement to those whose hearts ache while they walk the deep dark of their valleys.

In the after, it makes sense and we can now see the good and the hand of God a little more clearly.

Is there something difficult you have been through? Are you able to see how God allowed it so you could reach out and walk through it again later with someone else?

If you are walking through a difficult time now, give it to the Lord and ask him to help you see the good and not focus on the bad, so that one day you may be able to lead someone else out of that valley you are currently hiking through.

Prayer requests? Share in the comments or email me through the “contact” link in the menu bar above. It will be prayed over.