Wild Sunflower Gratitude

This is what artist Vincent Van Gogh had to say

about his sunflower paintings,

I feel the desire to renew myself,

and try to apologize for the fact 

that my pictures are, after all,

almost a cry of anguish,

although in the

rustic sunflower

they may

symbolize

gratitude.

I get that.

Life around us

can be a cry of anguish.

But the sunflowers . . . 

my sun flowers . . . 

are a picture

of

gratitude.

They cry out to us

to

celebrate.

They

shine.

They

cheer.

They inspire

love.

Wild.

Beautiful.

Gratitude.

1000 Gifts:

81.  The color yellow

82.  Hearts in gravel sprinkled with flower petals.

83.  Growing girls laughter on the evening air.

84.  Sunshine on blonde hair.

85.  Gravel Roads.

Join me for my last summer

art and photography faith-centered day retreat

at my home

Saturday, August 11.

Here's what Missy has to say,

"I attended the first session in June, and I would highly recommend this upcoming day retreat to ANY woman. You do not need to be a photographer or an artist (I am neither!) to attend this retreat. It is for any woman who would like to spend a day admiring nature, finding beauty in the ordinary, and being inspired by an amazing story. It is a very relaxing experience. I just took my little point-and-shoot camera, used Jodi's supplies, and listened to her stories. You do not need to be an expert, you do not need to be a professional, anyone would enjoy and learn from this experience. It has helped me appreciate the many 'everyday-ordinary-beautiful-b

lessings' around me. I feel blessed to live so near this inspirational woman and to be able to experience her story and learn from it. I hope all of you take the opportunity to experience these retreats, too!"

Read about it here:

Beautiful In It's Time Summer Retreat Series:  Sunflowers and Spirit

Register here:

Register for Sunflowers and Spirit

All photos property of Jodene Shaw. 2012.

Believe Truth Boards

Jesus said,

"I am the way, the truth, and the life."

I have come to see that

what I believe is how I will live.

And I have read that if the Son sets you free,

 you shall be free indeed.

And that you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.

So if I live what I believe,

I might as well believe Truth.

But there have been times I did not.

And some times I don't.

I have believed lots of things that aren't true.

For many years I believed that my

security, identity, validity, and value

were rooted in a successful academics, school activities,

a long list of accomplishments, 

career and business success,

and underneath all of that

admiration, praise and applause were my cup-fillers.

It's not that doing well in school and business is wrong.

But I grasped frantically and in desperation 

and sacrificed time, money, and values for those things.

They seemed like things I could control, they were right and good and admirable.

Yet those "things" are not The Way.

Those are not where I find ultimate security, identity, and value.

They are not what fill the hole in my heart I was seeking to fill.

The false beliefs are endless really.

We can discover them throughout our life.

And they really become how we live.

Even if they are not true.

But as my truth rather than my shameful hiding entered my life,

. . . even though it was painful at the time . . . 

as that happened

and the forgiveness of Jesus poured out on me

and His grace washed over me,

His truth 

opened up before my eyes.

The truth of 

who He is

and the truth of 

who I am

because of Him

and the truth of

who He has made and is making me to be.

He has continued

to show me Himself.

His Truth.

One in the same.

Three years ago,

I came to Cedar Canyon Bible Camp

just to go to the evening service.

Very raw.

Very broken.

Very much knowing

I needed to make a change.

I participated along with the teens

writing down what I needed to let go of on a piece of paper

and

we burned it.

I was not free yet in that moment.

But in the weeks to come,

I spoke with authenticity and truth.

And made hard changes.

Through restless nights,

vivid dreams,

wrestling with God and myself

about my beliefs and my choices and my options

to follow the Way.

Three years ago,

I let go of my agenda for how life had to be,

I let go of who I thought I had to please,

and let God transform my mind and heart.

Three years later,

I am back at Cedar Canyon Bible Camp,

sharing lies I have believed

and 

God's truth that can set us free.

Yesterday,

we nailed the truth

to pieces of wood.

With the lie

on the back side.

As I picked up the left over sheets

of lies and truth.

My heart broke when I saw the things the girls had believed

even though I have believed them,

and even though I knew

they probably have believed them.

Still, it breaks my heart when I see the holes

in the page,

where it said,

"I have believed that I am ruined 

and my life is ruined by things I have done 

or things that have happened to me."

It breaks my heart

when the hole was in the page

where the words read,

"I have believed that I don't belong"

or the one that was typed,

"I have believed that I am abandoned"

But my heart rejoices to know that

they also acknowledged that

"The truth is the Jesus can give me a crown of beauty

 in place of the parts of my life that have been destroyed" 

(See Isaiah 61)

and my heart rejoices

that she acknowledged that

"The truth is I belong to the LORD. 

He says, 'You are Mine."

(See Isaiah 43:1)

and that 

"The truth is that I have been chosen by Him to be holy and blameless.  

The truth is that it is His pleasure to adopt me and He planned to do it.  

The truth is He accepts me."

Ephesians 1:4-6

They made a

beautiful remembrance of Truth.

My prayer

for these girls

is that their hearts are prepared soil

ready to receive

the seeds of truth.

That the Word planted

won't be choked out by weeds,

dried up among the rocks,

or snatched away.

My prayer is

that they will be willing

to give their hearts to

the One who will make

their hearts into

the soil of a good and noble heart

receiving truth

so that it can grow

and mature

and

yield a harvest in their lives

100 fold.

Dear Lord,

Your word says in Isaiah 55 that

as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,

and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud,

That it may give seed to the sower

and bread the the eater,

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;

It shall not return to Me void,

But it shall accomplish what I please,

And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

For you shall go out with joy,

and be led out with peace;

The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you,

And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Lord,

I pray that this Truth,

that your Word

shall not return to You void,

but shall accomplish what You please

and prosper

in the lives

of these

young

women.

And that there

will be

celebration.

In Jesus name,

Amen.

*

*

Cedar Canyon Bible Camp was

my "studio" for the week.

Visit Jennifer at Studio JRU and these 

inspirational artists, photographers, writers,

for a sneak peek into their studio this week:

Jodene Shaw Mixed Media Art & Photography copyright 2012.

A Name

Yesterday morning,

I was working through 

Kelly Minter's study of Nehemiah.

At one point, I was reading the names of those

who had returned to Jerusalem.

Nehemiah had led the people to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem,

but so few people were there.

What is the point of a wall with no people?

So I begin to read.

A list of names.

Tedious.  People I do not know.

Does reading their names matter?

But I made myself read each one.

Outloud.

Those names are there in print.

In the very Word of God.

For a reason.

They were people

with real lives

with real stories.

And I got to thinking about remembering names.

I thought about

Ground Zero.

Every September 11, the names of those who lost their lives

are read.

To remember.

Each and every one.

The name matters.

Even as a 17 year old girl,

I remember

the powerful reality

of life,

of life

given,

as

I

walked

along

the

Vietnam War Memorial.

Truly a place

where I felt like Isaiah

before the throne of God

where words

- any words -

felt

unclean.

I thought of the framed ship's manifest

hanging in my mom's hallway

with the list of names of my great grandfather and great grandmother

my great aunts and uncles

and my Grandpa Tommy

listed as 

Tobias.

Their names had to be on the ship manifest

and be registered

at

Ellis Island in 1908.

They matter.

They symbolize the courage it took to leave behind a land of oppression

for the hope of a new life in a new land.

If not for those names listed

on that ship,

I would not be alive.

I was born here

into this life

because of those names

of those

people.

I ought to remember.

I have life because those names were on that list.

I have this life because of their sacrifice.

My 20 year high school reunion

is this coming weekend.

So I have been thinking

about name tags.

Ugh. Who likes to wear a name tag?

But we should.

We want to know who you are.

Know your name.

Remember your name.

I've been going through lists

of names,

trying to find people.

It's hard to find them all.

But I wanted them to know they were invited.

That they were on the list.

That their name matters.

They matter.

After all of this reading names

and thinking about

lists of names

and why they are important,

I opened facebook.

A picture of a nametag was there in black and white

staring at me.

It said

"Hello my name is"

and then

scrawled in the blank space was

"Easily forgotten

because I don't matter."

Someone feels this way

today.

Someone was honest about feeling like this.

Someone is asking the question,

"Do I matter?"

"Does anyone see me?"

Why do names matter?

Because people matter.

A person matters.

Individual lives matter.

They make a difference.

Who hasn't asked the question,

"Do I really matter?"

Who hasn't felt the sting of being forgotten?

Of being left out?

Of being the one not invited.

And which one of us has not been the one

guilty

of

forgetting?

We all forget.

Who are the forgotten?

Who have I forgotten?

Who can I show that I remember and appreciate?

That they matter and make a difference

to 

me?

To believe that I am easily forgotten because I don't matter

is to give power to a lie over my life.

Oh, I have felt that way for a moment,

but what about the one who has believed it for years,

for a lifetime?

The one who is continually overlooked?

It is heartbreaking.  The lies that we let creep into our beliefs.

Lies shaped by our experiences.

That seem like they are giving us a true message.

Why is that a lie, when it sure seems like I'm forgotten?

Because even if our own family forgets,

we can

discover

the truth

and choose

to

believe the truth

that

there is One who never forgets . . .

There is One to whom we matter,

who gave His life

that we might

truly

live.

Each one of us does matter to God.

You matter to God.

And that does make a difference.

There is One

who intended that we be.

Who wants us to be His.

To be on His list of names

in

The Book of Life.

Who takes us after we have

been busted up and broken

by our own selfish pride and arrogance and sin 

and mess and faults 

and fears and doubts

and wounded and bruised and manipulated

by others

and

remakes

in

His

masterpiece.

Remakes us

for good works

that will

matter

to others who have a name.

When we do those

good things

He puts in our heart,

we matter.

And a circle of grace can begin.

Of remembering one

and

making a difference to another.

And as we remember one,

they remember us.

His circle of remembrance continues.

We can be a part of it.

And

we

become

beautiful

in

His

time.

And He gives

us 

a

new identity

which is

masterpiece,

intended,

cherished,

strengthened,

known,

loved,

chosen,

friend,

heir . . . 

to be who He truly intended us

to be.

He

never

stops

changing

us

into 

His

image,

if

we will let him have

our heart,

our life,

our name.

And

He

never

forgets

who we

are.

I am engraved

on

the palm

of

His hands.

*

~

*

Art and photography property of Jodene (Jodi) Shaw 2010, 2012.

Just Pretty.

The kids are in 

summertime

doldrums.

Which means

it is 100 degrees out

and

we live

60 miles from the nearest

swimming pool.

So they are bugging each other.

And I just needed a quiet walk

on the prairie

in the cool of the morning.

Except it is not

morning.

So I went through

my photos of my morning walk.

I enjoyed them so much.

I thought someone else

could use a pick-me-up.

Beauty

can

do

that.

It can

restore

peace.

Heal.

Calm.

Beauty

helps

me

breathe.

Rest.

Pure moments.

Selah.

*

~

*

All Photos property of Jodene Shaw 2012.