Ordinary Fascination

Become Fascinated With The Ordinary Original
9 x 9 inch Canvas Print

Sometimes

I can learn so much

from the

pure-hearted

wisdom

of

my

child.

"Oh, Look!

White flowers!

I will go get some and blow them

and the little things

will go everywhere.

And I will laugh!"

So she did.

And she came back to me

with dandelion seeds in her hair.

And she said to me,

"Mommy, take my socks off. 

You take yours socks off and come down in the grass

and it will tickle yours feet."

So I did.

{Mother's Day 2010.}

How

can

a curse

become

a

blessing?

Fascination.

New eyes.

It

all

depends

on your

perspective.

Ordinary.

Every day.

Finding beauty.

Seeking it.

Looking wholeheartedly.

Don't they know? Don't they believe?

Six.

Can I say I'm so glad she still has wings?

A few ladies in church call her

"our little butterfly".

Riding in the car this morning,

her birthday dolls have their hands up,

she is singing with them

as we are listening to Chris Tomlin sing

our God is greater

our God is stronger

God, You are higher than any other 

*

and if our God is for us

then who could

ever stop us?

She stops and asks . . . 

"Mom, how come in the movies they don't talk about God?

Don't they know about Him?

Don't they believe in Him?"

Another deep breath moment for me.

And my standard answer it seems lately . . . 

"I'm not sure.  I don't know."

She says, holding up Merida,

"Like this movie."

I say,

"Yes, you're right."

Then she says,

"Well, she's learning about Him now.  I'll teach her."

*

*

*

*

Yesterday she came home from school

and it was,

"The worst birthday of my life..."

Somebody had upset her on the playground.

So I listen, 

because her hurt deserves listening.

Then I tell her not to focus on just the bad things

and declare it to be the worst birthday of her life,

but to think about the good things that happened.

Because that's like throwing away all the good stuff

and keeping the bad stuff.

"That's what Mrs. D. said," she told me.

I'm so glad that Mrs. D. and I think along the same lines.

We make a great team!

There have been plenty of bad stuff moments in the last couple days,

but this moment,

this one right here of E teaching Merida about God,

I'm going to hang on to that one moment

and let go of the others

{the whining, yelling, fighting, bickering}.

That's the one moment I'm going to keep.

Because

that moment matters.

And I'm going to share it.

For your hearts too.

*

*

*

By the way, for those of you that have followed

my birthday cake

fiascos . . . 

this one turned out pretty good.

Whew!

Maybe I am learning a lesson.

Must be watching all those Pioneer Woman episodes!

Pure Heart

Blessed

are the

pure in heart

for they

will

see

God.

Matthew 5:8

This one turns 6 years old tomorrow.

She is a pure heart.

An honest one.

{Unless it comes to telling whether or not she has brushed her teeth.}

Otherwise,

she's a "no bologna" kind of girl.

Sometimes it's stressful.

But mostly, what is most important,

is that she is all-out, wholehearted.

In her "yes".

In her "no".

In her belief.

And this time,

she wanted God to have this drawing she made.

She thought perhaps she could keep it until she died someday

and she could take it with her.

But then it would stay in the casket,

so that wouldn't work.

She decided He should come get it.

The next day, it was still here.

WHY won't He come get it, Mom???

My answer, 

I don't know.

What should we DO, Mom?

My answer,

Let's take it to church and we'll ask some people.

Yes!  Let's have a MEETING about it.

she says.

So the next day,

we went to church.

She sat beside my friend

and told her about it.

We had a Bible school meeting,

so we prayed about it.

And my friend says,

What about helium balloons?

She embraced the idea.

So here we are sending the picture

off to God.

She ran after.

We watched it head west for a while.

And then it went

straight

up.

Do you think an angel got it and took it to Him?

I don't know, honey.

Do you think He is looking at it?

I know He sees it.

And He sees

your

heart.

Creating a Place to Grow Wings

It's easy to get the winter blahs when there is no green.

However,

when there are no leaves,

I can see all the nests along the dry creek bed.

I found a few today

and I got to thinking

about how

they feel so

sacred to me.

It's a little home

that a bird made.

A bird.

And they hang on to these trees 

in the wind

the rain

the snow.

Not just any wind.

Prairie wind.

Monday this week we had 70 mile an hour gusts.

All these little nests are still there.

And I thought about how a nest is a home.

A place for

love,

nurturing,

nourishing,

protection,

wing-growing.

I thought about how I want

to be intentional

about creating my house to be a sacred place,

no matter how little and cramped it may be,

no matter how messy it might get at times.

But asking myself,

How can I make this a sacred wing-growing home?

How can I make it a place 

of love, nurture, nourishment, protection, faith building, wing-growing?

A safe house,

yet a growing house...

Somehow,

looking at the tiny little nests

built on faith,

I began to see

my little nest

and the work

that I do there

with different eyes

today.

The Robin Story

My Aunt Linda is living with Parkinson's Disease.

Her mom was my Grandma Marj.

Grandma Marj shared the love of bird-watching with each of us.

So, I am sending Aunt Linda my bird stories.

This morning I felt like I should share them publicly, as I mail them to her.

Some of you have read them or heard me speak of them.

They are deeply meaningful and so personal.

Yet, even though it feels so vulnerable to share, 

I believe they are meant to be shared.

This is one of those stories

that is a

"Know and Believe"

story.

Be encouraged.

In your mind.

In your heart.

In your spirit.

The Robin Story
It was May 3, 2008, in the midst of a spring blizzard on the South Dakota prairie.  I had come through a spring of cancellation after cancellation after cancellation for my business.  Canceling again and again the actions that I thought were necessary to see my dreams fulfilled.  My business was counting on these appointments that, due to weather, I had repeatedly cancelled from January to May.

At the same time, a childhood hobby of bird watching that had been shared with my Grandma Marj, had resurfaced.  Like I did as a child, I started to notice and cherish the birds I saw in my yard.  It had been a tender time with my grandma as a child.  For many years, it seemed to go dormant in my life, but that year, the seed of bird watching had sprouted again in my heart.  On the first day of the blizzard, May 1, 2008, I had taken some photographs of robins in the cottonwood tree in my yard.

Also at this time, I had begun to fill journal after journal with prayers and what seemed to me to be the Lord's tender and loving response.  Prayer had become a rich relational experience with the Lord.  A real relationship.  I seemed to finally be experiencing that Jesus is alive and I know Him and He knows me.  It was true.  Jesus was true.  I could have a relationship with Him now.  I did not have to wait until after this life to know Him.  This experience is one of those ways that I knew and know that He is:  after the repetition of cancellations I had made for the previous five months, I had just poured out my frustration to God on paper and this is what He seemed to answer...

My child, you have needed this time with Me.  Do you see the richness of your life?  The robins puffed up in the snow in your tree--can you buy something so beautiful or contain it as a pet?  No.  It's beauty is in it's freedom to live wildly according to My design.  And you get to see it in your front yard.  You have that richness all around you.  You do not have to possess it materially to have the blessing of that richness in your life.  As you take photographs, it is your recognition of those little blessings in the details that surround you right where you are.

In your hands, your captivity, your cage, My child, the robin would suffer and eventually die.  It would not be living as I designed it to live.  But in My hands it has the ability, even as a little bird, to survive, even a violent spring blizzard, and not only survive, but thrive.  In My hands.  Turn your hopes and dreams over from your hands to My hands, My child.  In your hands they will be limited and captive, but in Mine, they will be wild and free able to survive storms and thrive in the aftermath, and they will be beauty set free.  Whenever you see a robin, My child, let it remind you of the beauty, and freedom and thriving that exists in a life in My hands.

That is what was written in my journal that day.  It calmed my fretting and anxious heart.  I felt that I was held in the hand of God.  My cares had been cast upon Him, and He was caring for me.  I felt that He knew what my heart needed.  Even today, as I retype it, a fire of peaceful, cozy warm is ignited in my heart.  Just that, in my journal from my prayer time, would have been enough.
But then, about a week later, I am reading my favorite magazine.  Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion.  I come to a page with one of her paintings.  It is of a little boy standing holding his hands behind his back with a tree branch in them.  At his feet are three little robins and before his eye a robin in flight with a twig in its beak.  The painting is titled, "Little Robin".  "Oh, how sweet," I thought.  But what I saw next caused me to gasp and praise Him.  My heart was moved to worship when I read the quotes on the page.  The title was "Dream a Little Dream", and then five quotes about dreams. 

Here are two.

"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable."  Christopher Reeve. 

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Prior to writing in my journal in my prayer time, I had never associated robins with my dreams.  They were two separate things.  Yet, it seemed He taught me to trust Him in that prayer time with my hopes and dreams.  He taught me to let them go ~ that He should hold them, not me.  That giving my dreams to Him was His design for my life.  That hanging on too tightly to my vision for my life would suffocate His design.  I was thinking that it "had to be this way" for my hopes and dreams to happen.  But even though there had been storm after storm, He still held me and my hopes and dreams in His hand, and there, all of it was safe, and there they would not only survive, but flourish and thrive.  Just like He holds the robin in the storm, He holds me in my storms.  As I read the quotes on that page about dreams and I saw the painting of the robins on the same page, I felt like the Lord Himself had sent me a love letter for my heart.  You can choose to call all of this a coincidence, but I will choose to glorify Him, to give Him the credit, the glory, the honor, and the praise.  It seemed to be a confirmation to me personally.  Just a special little thing so that I would know.  That I may know that He is the Lord and there is no other.

Do you have a "That You May Know Story"?  If so, I encourage you to document it.  Write it in a journal.  Take a photograph that reminds you.  Paint or draw a picture.  Write a letter to your kids or grandkids so they may know your story.  Whatever you are inspired to do. 

If you do not have your story yet, pray for it.  Seek Him with all your heart and He will be found by you.  Believe this truth: Jeremiah 29:13-14 says, "And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.  I will be found by you says the LORD."  Begin seeking Him wholeheartedly.  He knows how you will know.

*

Photos and words property of Jodene Shaw.  

Do not copy, reprint or distribute without permission. Thank you.

I Will Dare ~ Mixed Media Art Class

What are the things that seem to stop you in your tracks?

What holds you back?

What keeps you from moving forward?

The essence of "daring" is faith.

At the core, daring and courage are future focused

and that takes faith.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,

the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

The things that require each person 

to "dare" or "be of good courage"

can be completely opposite,

yet legitimate

depending on the time . . . on the season

one is in.

Or even depending on personality differences.

Saturday, I led a class focused

identification of the things that hold us back,

and making a statement of daring

in the face of scary thoughts or challenging circumstances.

I am using my piece as a place for my family to

remember and celebrate and treasure

daring and courageous moments . . . 

no matter how things turn out.

Sydney already made a bold move

to sing a solo at church on Sunday.

So she wrote it down

and tucked it in the pocket.

Sometimes when we create something

and place it in a prominent place,

it helps us to be intentional about living it.

Inspirational Reading about "Daring & Courage":
Daring Greatly by Brene Brown
Undaunted by Christine Caine
The Frog and Toad Treasury by Arnold Lobel

The variety in the pieces

were

as divinely beautiful

as

the variety of women

around the tables

at Sturgis Photo & Gifts.

We were brave

in trying new things,

in sharing stories,

in meeting new people,

in taking time out.

Just this morning, my mentor, life-coach, favorite author, and friend,

Joan C. Webb,

"tweeted" this post:

"Courage is doing it frightened." (J.Briscoe) 

Reminds me of Ps. 56:3,

"WHEN I am afraid, I'll trust in You" 

& go on to do what I'm afraid of.

Yes, indeed, Joan!

If you could fill in the blanks,

what would you say?

Even if _________________, I will dare to _______________.

Even though ____________________, I will dare to __________________.

Why not write some statements down?

Talk about it with your family.

Maybe even create a reminder . . . 

Go out and be strong and courageous today!

Take a risk and put yourself out there . . . 

God's grace is with you!

{A huge THANK YOU to the ladies that spent their afternoon with me!}

{Amy & her daughters Megan and Morgan, Linda, Megan, Keri, & Tiffany.}

{And loads of APPRECIATION to Bob Davis & Terri Jo Oedekoven at Sturgis Photo & Gifts

for hosting my class!}

Teach Me, Mom!

Every so often,

I hear a whisper in my heart

that says,

This matters.

And when I hear it.

I pay attention to the moment.

To the person.

My kindergartner has been making art.

She loves to make it and give it away.

Recently she said,

Mom, I want my table next to yours

so you can teach me how you do that.

She had just made her own piece

and wrapped it up for her auntie.

So we moved her art table next to mine.

Show me how you do that.

Teach me, Mom!

It was one of those

This matters

moments.

I told her what to do step-by-step.

And this is how hers turned out.

She selected the words . . . 

This is one of those moments

to treasure in this mama's heart.

*

~

*

My next art class is coming up soon!

We have 7 spots left!

It's all about daring in spite of the things that could hold us back.

Recently, I read Brene Brown's latest book, Daring Greatly.

As I prepared for new opportunities to share my art in January,

I felt all of those crazy stomach butterflies.

Sometimes I would hear those nagging gremlin voices

telling me that I was not prepared for this.

That my work wasn't good enough.

That I wasn't ready.

Fear grabbed at me constantly.

Inadequacy was knocking at my door.

And as I felt at times my knees and head (and heart) buckling

under these thoughts at times,

I was reminded of Brene's book

and what stuck with me was her inspiration

which was from Theodore Roosevelt's speech

"Citizenship in a Republic",

sometimes referred to as

"The Man in the Arena"

This is the passage Brene quotes at the opening of Daring Greatly

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,

or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,

whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;

who strives valiantly;

who errs, who comes short again and again,

because there is no effort without error and shortcoming;

but who does actually strive to do the deeds;

who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions;

who spends himself in a worthy cause;

who at the best knows in the end the triumph

of high achievement, and who at the worst,

if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly . . ."

~ Theodore Roosevelt ~

Lots of "newness" was happening.

And I was just preparing to "get in the arena"

...even if my arena is not all that dusty and dirty.

And that is worth it.

Getting in the arena is worth it.

Because every time I step forward and do that scary thing,

it is living what I believe is important.

Every new step feels scary and so stomach flip-flopping vulnerable.

But that does not mean that the step should not be taken.

So many things can hold us back,

but we can choose to have courage and do it anyway.

I always think of Joshua standing on the edge of the Promised Land.

God told him several times to

be strong and courageous

do not be afraid

do not be terrified

The LORD your God is with you

where ever you go.

I bet his knees were knocking.

But Joshua had faith in God

and dared to go forward.

I hope I can follow in his footsteps.

That's what this art class is all about.

Doing it anyway.

Daring greatly.

Being strong and courageous

because the Lord your God

is with you

where

ever

you

go.