Category Archives: Creativity

Apr 30 2013

Holy Imagination, People!

“Perhaps I write for no one. Perhaps for the same person children are writing for when they scrawl their names in the snow.” – Margaret Atwood

From an early age, I remember thinking I could write. Curly q’s and flying w’s donned blank pages. I wondered why nobody could understand what I was trying to say. Perhaps, even now, that I can spell, people still scratch their heads and mumble to themselves.

This is an image I snapped, while walking the beach along Lake Michigan. What do you see? Can you hear anything? Memories?

Washed ashore

Apr 25 2013

sacred space (H is for Heaven)

the solitude of the moment
the  quietness in the air
words are harnessed and written down
knowing i am almost there
amongst the trees and water
where  birds and crickets share
the rainbow hangs above the clouds
the sacred is here

H is for heaven. No I have not been there. Many claim to have been present and seen a glimpse. We are told to bring heaven on earth. What would that look like for you?

Apr 25 2013

Bad weather should not be an excuse for not going outdoors!

Reblogged from Love Outdoor Play:

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Our children’s best memories of playing outdoors include careering down a muddy hill on an old bin bag, snowball fights, splashing in muddy puddles, running around in torrential summer rain and drinking hot chocolate in their den on an icy night winter picnic.

You may be surprised that most of these activities weren’t done on a perfect sunny day but on cold or wet days when most of us would probably choose to stay indoors. 

Read more… 210 more words

Those salads I made were delicious. The clouds I watched were mesmerizing. And all the while I was learning to be a grown-up.
Apr 17 2013

Spacious Dreams

I volunteer with the homeless population, in a Christian mission, where plenty of negative vibes squash the possibilities that God promises. Yet, what is impossible with us is certainly feasible with God and so we should redirect our focus and not dwell on certain facts but instead dream! We are told that if we knock, He will answer. Doors will be opened to us that seemed unimaginable. This is a very creative expression of hope that will change a person’s outlook along with a great many prayers to our Father, through Jesus!

DO you have a creative expression of hope that you cling to in times of despair?

A beautiful door somewhere in France

Keep your eyes looking up? From where does my help come from? Even when our hearts are dragging on the dusty road of life,
we know there is a SAVIOR who cares for us inexplicably.

God, In Jesus’s name I pray: As I prepare myself for our upcoming trip to Arizona, to witness the open space of your creation, to experience the forgiveness and mercy of Your love, I ask that you give me the strength I need to stay alert, to be open to hear instruction and utilize the teachable moments ahead to grow in my faith and trust, in Your ability, and not my own. Thank you and AMEN!

©jeannelizabeth

Mar 18 2013

Hello world, take two!

For the child we each are…cheers!  May your road be blessed, as you journey to an understanding of yourself, others and the world around you.  Peace :)

I first published that sentiment, October 3, 2011, as a way to break into the  world of journaling with technology. Reflecting back on my blogging beginnings, I do not appear much different, physically, emotionally or spiritually. At the most, I wonder why I publish such intimate thoughts.

I have continually asked myself what I really want to accomplish on my WordPress site? If I go down the list of personal interests, rarely do I encounter posts written on quilting, cooking or gardening. I want to change that aspect of our experience together. Of those three activities, which do you participate in? Quilting? Cooking? Gardening?

I notice I delve quite a bit into my spiritual being, but I am not reaching the audience to the extent I had hoped. I have longed to encounter hurting people looking for answers to some of life’s most difficult questions. To have a dialogue with believers and unbelievers about what life has taught and provided each of us. What can you share? Do you have a blog? Feel free to ad a link to the comments so we can find you.

There is never enough time to spend with our dearest friends and dearest passions. I want to be able to reach out to those who need a gentle hug, an understanding, a heart of love to pave a new road for their tired and worn feet.

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23

If you do nothing else today, for yourself, a stranger, or a friend, be reminded that time is fleeting. Store up for yourselves not things that rot, rust and can be stolen, but treasures that endure for eternity. I sincerely pray that we are able to spend more time together, if not in person, enjoying a favorite beverage, at least through the waves of air, light and speed. Technology often feels like a barrier, but we can conquer our fear by interacting and sharing life. Feel free to drop a line. Be brave. Ask. Inquire. Let us learn and grow together.

©jeannelizabeth

Dec 27 2012

In our despair comes HOPE!

Our country is in trouble. The world is in trouble. What is the Lord Jesus’s advice?

John 14:1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.”

What a beautiful reminder that God is in control. Over and over I am reminded of this, yet in my flesh I try over and over to make things better, but all these things must happen before He returns.

Come Lord Jesus!

Still, not in my strength, but in HIS, I was moved by the Sandy Hook tragedy. I felt that same drive to run or fly to those in need as when I heard the news of my brother, but with no sense of direction, I sat still, mourning. We are either paralyzed with fear or set in motion by hope. Hope that God is in our midst during our despair. The following Sunday morning brought inspiration to take the scrap cloth that has amassed in my sewing room and mend my heart and pass my creation onto someone in need of love.  I had wanted to send this quilt before Christmas, but like all my projects, there is only so much time. Indiana’s snowstorm, yesterday, gave me the much needed time to spend with my beloved family as well as heal some more for lost innocence. December 26, 2012 was a great day to finish the project.

DSC_0005 DSC_0001

It is finished! This quilt will go to Wheeler Missions Women and Children’s Center in memory of Sandy Hook victims. I heard of the love outpouring and the city’s wish that further gifts be given towards others and I will fulfill that wish.

Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

That is my prayer for you today. Shalom! ©Jeannelizabeth

Jun 4 2012

Books Read Recently

I love to read.
I love to write.
I love to write about what I read.

Recent reads include The Chosen by Chaim Potek, A Writer’s Diary by Virginia Woolf, Ultraviolet by RJ Anderson and A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf. I like them in that order. I will read some more writings by Mr. Potek in the future. I like his style, full of depth but so easy to follow. You can go really deep into the significance of his universal thoughts, or take them at face value, and cherish the simplicity of meaning. I prefer to go both ways and depending on the circumstance. Without spoiling the ending of The Chosen, I would say that as parents, we give our children everything, so we do not die fruitless.

Virginia Woolf has always intrigued me on many levels. I survived the suicides of my grandfather and brother, and in my quest to understand the mind of a person who takes away their breath, I naturally gravitate towards those on that same path. Her novels are difficult. I have attempted them many times. They start so slow, my interest wanes and I find I soon lose heart to push through. Someday I will finish one of her novels, but until then, I will proclaim that A Writer’s Diary is a read that I will find myself picking up often. I immediately went to the last day of her diary that was published, seeking clues as to her thoughts before she ended her life, and was left unrewarded. Her books are not futile, thankfully, and even if they never paint a good picture for me to begin to understand, I at least feel closer to something that haunts me often.  Her other book, A Room of One’s Own, since I am not finished with it, I will leave for a later date to comment, but wanted to hear from any of you that have read it and your thoughts.

Lastly, I am in the middle of reading Ultraviolet, a young adult novel, and so far I am intrigued. I am sorry to say I would not replicate RJ Anderson’s writing, finding too much description takes away from the depth of the story, but the theme is interesting enough to keep me plugging along. An interesting side note to the story is that people actually are afflicted with a colorful perception to their senses: synesthesia.  If you would like to check out a test you can take to see if you are a synesthete, click here http://synesthete.org/. You can also google synesthesia and find many websites to browse.

Happy reading,

Jeannelizabeth©

Jun 4 2012

Just where have I been?

Much is new in my life. No, I did not move, marry or fall to martyrdom. Nor did I abandon, ditch, forsake or malign my Sweet Promises blog (even though I have been absent for some time). Instead, I have been in upheaval. My feet are firmly planted but my head is in the clouds. I wonder who I am, pursuing truth. Actually, I think I know who I am, but like a diamond in the rough, I yearn to be polished. Underneath the veiled image, I am quite fragmented.

I wonder if I suffer from a dissociative disorder. I am prone to daydreaming. I get lost in thought. I find that I am not organized enough to tell the thousand stories locked inside. Several white pages of paper, more than I care to acknowledge, have been wasted in my pursuit of perfection. I am wasteful. Not just resources of tangible goods but the unconsciousness of time squandered pursuing answers seems unforgivable. Time is running out.

Funny how life seems to zoom, halt, sputter, tumble to a lull and just when you think you have it figured out, well then, you realize you were wrong. Somewhere, perhaps years ago, you took a disastrous turn. Life left you questioning. Ask me if I believe in God, and the answer is “I do”. And Jesus, the Bible and the Spirit He left when He departed earth to be with His Father in Heaven. So why do I struggle? To be brutally honest, I have faced hell.  Many moons ago, I only struggled with growing up. Today, it is painful memories that clog my veins.

Mother’s Day week 2012, I took a summer job as a gardener at Rita’s Backyard. I love gardening. I love plants. I love being outdoors. I have posted here my gardening musings and photos. So I think you believe me. Those are a few of my favorite things but it means time pursuing my craft of writing, to get a pure message to my audience, is faltering. To make matters worse, I burned every written word I had ever produced (years ago). This random act of stupidity was an impulse I carried out while stomping through fire.  I’ll never know if any of what I wrote was worthy of seeing daylight, but it left a hole inside that yearns to be repaired. I wonder if I burnt it to be freed of my tortured past?  At that particular time, absolutely, yes. Now, a clamoring, resounding no, rings inside my head.

So what to do?

I hope you do not think I have totally turned my back on Christianity or my Sweet Promises blog. I just have started to think out loud, trying to form a picture from a thousand puzzle pieces, and wanted to draw in those who are pursuing the unknown, with me, to finally be a polished rock worthy of hearing the words in Matthew 25:23…”Well done, good and faithful servant.” In the meantime, I started a Blogger site, called A Grain of Sand @ http://manygrainsofsand.blogspot.com/ and a pure poetry blog @ http://sharpenedpoint.wordpress.com/, which I rarely publish on because poetry takes more time than a few random lines now and then.

Apr 11 2012

Organized Chaos

Okay, I admit it. I am forever disheveled. I try to organize only to find a horrible mess a few hours after tidying up. What makes some of us so coherent and capable of keeping ourselves together, while others are in a constant state of flux?

God certainly did not make a mess. He is steadfast in all He does. For those of us crying out “Why do you tarry in fixing the mess we are in?” I suggest that He is waiting for us to be still. We struggle our way through life, burdening ourselves with problems, seeking solutions, when resting in His arms is all He asks.

Psalm 46:10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” (NIV)

Feb 2 2012

Listening Well

This post was started January 13, 2012 with no real intention of finishing. Until now. I searched for a verse to show me what the Lord is doing in my life at present and this sums it up perfectly…

“The Lord says, ‘I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.  I will advise you and watch over you’.” Psalm 32:8

Okay, so in a few weeks the Lord took me from this:

The words were bubbling up from the pit of her stomach and the depths of her mind.  Even the blood flowed with twists and turns the best writer could not have imagined. Yet her fingers resisted letting anything escape.  Like Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and scores of others, she took the path of least resistance. She made a singular pact that nobody would ever read her written word.

She placed the pages into the shredder. To make it even more permanent, she placed the shredded scraps into the fireplace and watched the flames flare. Every thought was reduced to ash. The ash disappeared too as the wind carried her images to the four corners of the earth. Nothing remained.

I do not believe for one minute, that someone who destroys anything they have created, really wished that to be. When you are writing, do you take that paper and crumble it, shred it and other wise just shew it aside, to call it quits when you feel the utter madness of trying to communicate an idea? Do you really want to destroy all your thoughts? Not every word we think is worth repeating or uttering out loud,  but every thought can be caught captive and examined.   I admit I have never published anything. I have only a few readers of my blog, yet I keep plugging along. Why? Do I really have something to say that has not already been said? Am I just repeating what millions have thought, said and acted upon plenty of times.

I have books on my shelves to read such as Writing the Short Story by Bickham, Dynamic Characters by Kress, Creating Characters by Swain, Creating Short Fiction by Damon Knight, on and on the list could go, but have they helped? I cannot say definately, but I do know that I still wrestle with the thoughts that rush through me, beating against my hands, demanding that I release them.  Am I a writer? Is it a mistake to think I can write? or should write? Should I just put a cabosh on this whole notion rumbling through my head?

To this:

“God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts.  Use them well to serve one another… Do it with all the strength and energy God supplies.  Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 4:10, 11

So, I will continue pressing on. I absolutely feel inadequate, showcasing my thoughts in such a public way, but I will trust the Lord knows what He is doing. I love feedback and would relish every word spoken back to me in the comments. If there is something you were wondering, had a scripture verse you would like to see posted and discussed, would like to guest post, please let me know.

One final thought. I found a blog about listening and it can be found here http://www.listen.org/Blog. A quote from the founder of the International Listening Association had this to say about listening…”The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.”— Ralph Nichols. So why write? So you can be heard! Taking it a step further, every writer should read and make themselves available to outside influences. Take notes, visible and invisible. Make pages full of them. Know that by being a student, by listening, reading and writing, the TRUTH will eventually be released. The Lord said if we do not speak, the stones will. So I hope I am not put to shame by having a rock say what I could be saying and need to be saying. Jeannelizabeth©