Take a Word Challenge - Timepieces

The challenge this week over at Take a Word is Timepieces. I must say that this is how I've felt the last several weeks!

Crazy Time

Image credits: Rucola Designs and Holliewood Studio from Mischief Circus, and the Graphics Fairy.

Just Having Fun

Spent an evening playing with itKuPiLLi Imaginarium's Variete United Collection, which I hadn't had a chance to really play around with before. And, yes, it was while I was downloading some more digital images purchased from Mischief Circus – it's an addiction I can live with.

I spent a lot of time playing around with layer blending styles, with some really interesting results.

 Eternal Beauty

This brought together so many things that I really do think are beautiful - wonderful art and architecture. A lot of classic beauty blended together in a really interesting way.

Beauty is Eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.

Khalil Gibran

And now for something completely different:

Image Credits:

Both collages done with images from itKuPiLLi Imaginarium's Variete United from mischiefcircus.com.

Digital Whisper Challenges - Venus and Sheet Music

Last week's challenge over at Digital Whisper was "Venus" - I haven't done it for a while, at least until recently (see below), and am rather behind the times - but I had some fun with this.

Venus Rising

The week before the challenge was "Sheet Music." I actually had this ready that week, but didn't get it posted. 

Paris Love

Image Credits:

Venus Rising - Woman from Images-Shop.com Victorian Art Collection. All other images from Eena's Creations at mischief circus.com

Paris Love - Images from itKuPiLLi Imaginarium, Marta Van Eck, and Tumble Fish Studios, all from mischief circus.com

Happy Easter - It is Finished

He was despised and rejected by men;

a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;

and as on from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed.

~ Isaiah 53:3-5 (ESV)

Image credits: Far Far Hill, Digital Whisper, The Graphics Fairy, Hummie's World, and Images-Shop Victorian Collection.

Take Me Deeper - Feb. Wk 4 - Love Yourself

The final week study in February, with it's theme of love, is Week 4 - Love Yourself.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,

he is a new creation.

The old has passed away;

behold, the new has come.

All this is from God,

who through Christ reconciled  

us to himself

and gave us the ministry

of reconciliation…

~ 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 (ESV)

What impressed me so much in reading this verse is how this is all God's doing - "all this is from God." He reconciled, he didn't count our sins against us, he laid our sins on his Son - so that we could receive his righteousness. God is the one who does it, does it all. 

The book I was altering for the journal had a photo of a cathedral, which put me in mind of St. Teresa of Avila's image of the soul as The Interior Castle. And that's the image I took up, using the deep blues and purples for the depths of my being, and God's light coming into it. Surrounded by the red of the heart. The words are from my journal as I thought about the total gift - that it was all done for me, given to me, I don't have to do anything but receive it.

I loved the image of the Interior Castle, but the picture spoke to me - and as soon as I put it on I knew it was right. I loved that image of myself as a baby in this context, because it looks as if I'm "telling my troubles" as babies do. I sometimes feel that I spend a lot of time "telling my troubles" to God, and I wonder if it's to much, if I spend too much time doing it. But that's not how it is. When children come in their distress - that's interaction time, that's loving time. And in the depths of our hearts, where we're most vulnerable, most hurting - God gives us his attention, and his love, and his care.

The facing page continued the theme of the heart - our heart reaching up to God, and God's heart reaching down to us. I looked up "reconciled" in the Revell Bible Dictionary, and it brought up the pagan view, which is really the natural view. Here, we have to do something to make God look on us with favor. We have to sacrifice so that God will be happy with us. In other words, we have to do something so that God will change in reaction to us.

But now all things are new. Here God is the one who gives, who sacrifices, so that we will change. We are the ones who need to change our viewpoint, to receive the sacrifice, to be reconciled. It seems almost sacrilegious to think that way. But that's what Paul is saying:

So we are ambassadors who represent Christ.

God is negotiating with you through us.

We beg you as Christ's representatives,

"Be reconciled to God!"

God caused the one who didn't know sin

to be sin for our sake

so that through him

we could become the righteousness of God.

~ 2 Corinthians 4:20-21 (CEB)

It's always impressed me, the words used in the different translations: beg, plead, implore, etc. The urgency, the humility, the passion: 

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ,

as though God were pleading through us:

we implore you on Christ's behalf,

be reconciled to God.

~ 2 Corinthians 5:20 (NKJV)

It's so easy to fall back into the old way of thinking - that I have to do something to make God look on me with favor. I have to keep propitiating him so he won't be angry with me. I feel I need to sacrifice so he won't be angry with me.

But God says the sacrifice has already been made. He has already accepted the sacrifice Christ made for me. In his death, that part of me died too. And now he wraps me in Christ's righteousness and anoints me as his representative.

I don't have to do anything. I just need to accept what he has already done for me. And keep my eyes on him, spend time with him, follow him.

What we love we shall grow to resemble.

~ Bernard of Clairvaux

Take a Word - Blue and White

Celebrate Yourself

Image credits: Krysty Scrap Designs, Rucola Designs, itKuPiLLi Imaginarium (all from Mischief Circus); Art Freebies, and the Graphics Fairy. Quotation found on Pinterest.

Take Me Deeper - Feb Wk 3 - Love Your Neighbor

Over at His Kingdom Come, continuing with the theme for February, Love, this week it's "Love your neighbor."

A new command I give you:

Love one another.

As I have loved you, 

so must you love one another.

By this everyone will know

that you are my disciples,

if you love one another.

~ John 13:34-35

What really struck me about this verse is the timing of it. This was at the Last Supper. Jesus was speaking to his disciples – the ones he knew very shortly would betray him, deny him, abandon him. "As I have loved you..."

Judas had left by this time, but he was there earlier when Jesus washed the disciples' feet. Which means Jesus washed Judas' feet as well. The man who he knew would betray him. Whose actions would lead to Jesus being beaten, being humiliated, being crucified. "As I have loved you.."

It's easy to love people in the abstract. It's easy to love those you like and get along with. But those who have hurt you, disagreed with you, teased you - that's a lot harder. Sometimes it's not even that – just the ordinary, the unattractive, the ones easily overlooked. I fail there constantly, yet it's amazing how often God brings the lesson home to me. So many times people I haven't thought much about, or who seem to have nothing in common with me, have been people who have helped me, or given me good advice, or become friends. It's such an amazing blessing.

I read the IVP commentary on this passage at BibleGateway, and it talked about Jesus' washing the disciple's feet. It brings up the point that Jesus was aware of his identity as God, and it was because of his identity as God that he washed their feet. He only does what he sees the Father do. 

"This is what God himself is like – he washes feet, even the feet of the one who will betray him! Thus the foot washing is a true sign... for it's a revelation of God."
             ~IVP Commentary

The serving heart of God. And that's where we go if we want to be like him, to do what we see him do. "Love one another. As I have loved you, so must you love one another."

Take a Word - Green

Beloved

The challenge this week at Take a Word is "Green." This came a long way from where it started. I love it when the story starts to emerge!

Image Credits:

From Mischief circus: itKuPiLLi Imaginarium, Marta van Eck, Eena's Creations, Holliewood Studios

From images-shop.com: Victorian collection: Ophelia (J.W. Waterhouse), The Painter's Honeymoon (F. Leighton)

Digital Whisper Challenge - Teapots

So, you want tea or what?

The theme this week over at Digital Whisper is "teapots." So I started with the teapot by Marta van Eck and a wonderful background by Eena's Creations. Our heroine is certainly the one who belongs in the picture, but she doesn't seem very thrilled by the idea of serving tea in her little bohemian paradise.

Image credits: Eenas Creations, Marta van Eck, itKuPiLLi Imaginarium (all from Mischief Circus), and Digital Whisper.

Take Me Deeper 2015 - February Weeks 1 & 2 Love

God's Love For Us; Our Love for God

The theme for February over at His Kingdom Come is Love. Week one's theme is God's Love, week two is Love God. For me, the two weeks went together - Receiving God's love for us, and then responding to that love and loving Him. 

So I felt the journal pages would go together as well.

I was wishing I had taken more photos of the pages as they grew, as it came together bit by bit. All I knew in the beginning was the colors were purple and red. I loved the splashes of white, and the red streaks coming down from above.

Receive His Love

The verse for Week One: God's Love is John 3:16 -

For God so loved the world

that he gave his one and only Son,

that whoever believes in him

shall not perish but have eternal life.

~ John 3:16

A familiar verse. And, as so often happens, reading it in a different translation brings new meaning to this and the following verses. Personalizing it, it was so powerful it blew me away, and I knew that was really all there was to say:

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized me

that He even gave up his only begotten (unique) Son,

so that if I believe in Him

(trust in, cling to, rely on Him)

I shall not perish

(come to destruction, be lost)

but have eternal (everlasting) life.

For God did not send the Son into the world

in order to judge me

(to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on me),

but that I might find salvation

and be made safe and sound

through Him.

If I believe in Him

(cling to, trust in, rely on Him)

I am not judged

[if I trust in Him I never come up for judgement;

for me there is no rejection, no condemnation –

I incur no damnation]…

John 3:16-18a (Amplified), personalized

I love this, I think I need to put it where I can see it always. The amplified version seems to make it so much more real, more concrete. And even though it is "the world" it is each one of us personally as well. For each one of us, God so greatly loved and dearly prized us that He sent His Son to save us, to make us "safe and sound through Him."

"He loves each one of us,

as if there were only one of us."

~ St. Augustine

It's hard to take it in, hard to believe it's true - it seems to wonderful to be true. And so the challenge is always to receive His great love. One that probably will continue for all of our lives and into eternity.

"Believe in Him" can seem rather abstract as well - what does that really mean? To know that I can cling to Him in my darkest hours, the hardest situations. To know that I can rely on His strength in my weakness, His wisdom when I don't know what to do. To trust that He knows, and He understands, and He loves me, and He wants what is best for me - no matter what others think, no  matter what I think. And that it's OK to come to Him, to cling to Him. That we can rely on Him. That He is trustworthy, and always there for us.

Respond to His Love

Thinking about such a great love, how can we help but respond. The verse for Week 2: Love God is Matthew 22:37 -

Love the Lord your God

with all your heart

and with all your soul

and with all your mind.

~Matthew 22:37

I know what I think of when I hear heart and soul and mind, but I was curious about what it would have meant to the people hearing it for the first time, the people Jesus was speaking to. How would they have heard it, have understood it? So I did some research in the Revell Bible Dictionary and Strong's Concordance (there are newer editions, this is the one I had on hand).

Heart (kardia) is defined by The Revell Bible Dictionary as "the true inner self." It goes on to explain: "In Hebrew thought, the heart was the center of each person's being and intellect. It is with the heart that a man feels, perceives, and makes moral choices. It is also with the heart that one seeks and responds to God." The heart is central, it is the essence of who we are.

Soul (psyche) comes from the word meaning "breath," the spirit. According to Revell, the soul is "the essential self, the distinct identity of the person." It can also be used in referring to the individual person - as in a report that a ship was lost with all souls aboard. I'm not really clear on the difference between heart and soul. To me heart seems to the inner being - our thoughts, feelings, values. Soul, perhaps, refers to the person as an individual, including each person's uniqueness in gifts and talents and personality.

Mind (dianoia) is defined by Strong's Concordance as "deep thought, properly the faculty (mind or its disposition), by implication its exercise: - imagination, mind, understanding." Sometimes we read "mind" and think of reason or intellect. It is that, but I love the inclusion of imagination and understanding. 

I loved the idea of responding to His love. So often I try - I try so hard. And there's nothing wrong with trying, but it becomes striving. We strive to make ourselves better, to be perfect - to be what we think He wants us to be. And it's such a burden. 

Maybe it's simpler than that:

"Come to Me,

all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened,

and I will cause you to rest.

[I will ease and  relieve and refresh your souls.]

Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me,

for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart,

and you will find rest

(relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet)

for your souls.

For My yoke is wholesome

(useful, good –not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing,

but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant),

and My burden is light

and easy to be borne."

~Jesus of Nazareth

Matthew 11:28-30 (Amplified)

Ah, now there is a challenge for me. Because I tend to think it should be hard, that I should labor, and I easily become overburdened and overwhelmed. But Jesus paints a different picture. Come to Him, learn of Him, spend time with Him. And He will "cause me to rest" - (and sometimes, I admit, it's against my will!). 

Spend time with Him - in prayer, in praise, in worship. Learn of Him - through the Bible, through teaching, through the experiences of those who have gone before. Rest in Him - spend time in His presence; soak in His light, His love, His forgiveness. Allow Him to transform your mind, renew your spirit.

And Bloom.

Take a Word Challenge - Spring

Dreaming of Spring

This week's challenge over at Take a Word is Spring. And I've been dreaming of spring for a long time. Admittedly here in Minnesota there's not so much snow at the moment, but it's March so we'll no doubt be getting more. And for all those snowed in on the east coast and elsewhere - keep dreaming of spring!

Image credits: Marta van Eck, Altered Emporium, Eenas Creations (all from Mischief Circus), and The Graphics Fairy.

Digital Whisper Challenge - The Number 5

Bohemian Circus

The challenge over at Digital Whisper this week is "The Number 5" - which was quite a challenge for me! Not the way I usually think, it didn't give much of a clue what to do. I loved looking at the different responses and the amazing and various things people came up with!

So, having no ideas, this started at they so often do - with the wonderful background paper by itKuPiLLi Imaginarium. And it grew up from there, as the strolling players gathered together. 

Image credits: itKuPiLLi Imaginarium, Tumble Fish Studio and Rucola Designs - all from Mischiefcircus.com.

Take a Word - Feathered Friends

Exotic Collections

This week's challenge over at Take a Word is "Feathered Friends." I knew immediately I wanted to use this little fellow, though I didn't know where he belonged. He fit right into the niche, and the collection grew up around him! 

Image credits: itKuPiLLi Imaginarium, Holliewood Studios, Krysty Scrap Designs (the bird!) and Eenas Creations (the wonderful background!) all from MischiefCircus.com.

Ezra Day

Last fall we had an "Ezra Day" at my church, a where the bible was read aloud by members of the congregation from about 9am to 6pm. We were in a sermon series on Nehemiah and rebuilding the walls, and it was a time of rebuilding in the church as well. People could come and go as they wished, coffee, soup and bread was available throughout the day - it was something new, and very well done.

I came in the afternoon with my little journal and art supplies. Rather nervous, as I hadn't really done much art journaling in church; but I knew it was what I wanted to do. So I set up in a pew at the side and settled down to listen and absorb it. It was a very nice atmosphere in the sanctuary - calm and reverent and beautiful - as one by one, or as families, members stood up to read.

There was a program (which, alas, I can no longer find) telling the books that were being read and when. I came in at the latter part of Daniel, and the prophecies swirled around me.

Prophecy

As I continued to add color I kept thinking of a quotation I had read, something like: His chariot is the storm, and His coursers rush furiously on, but there is a bit between their teeth... 

It took me a little while to find it, as the various quotations I've written down are scattered around in many books, but I finally tracked it down. And, as I thought, it was by C. H. Spurgeon:

In times of confusion, when everything seems to be swirling around you, when you can't find that solid ground, when nothing that you try seems to work - it's easy to think that God isn't there, that you're left alone to bear this. At one such time in my own life, when everything seemed to be crashing around me, and I didn't know what to do, and nothing I did seemed to help - God reminded me that "the mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord."

Clouds and thick darkness surround him;

righteousness and justice are the foundations of his throne.

Fire goes before him

and consumes his foes on every side.

His lightning lights up the world;

the earth sees and trembles.

The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,

before the Lord of all the earth.

The heavens proclaim his righteousness,

and all peoples see his glory.

~Psalm 97:2-6

When God comes in His power, the earth shakes.

It was an interesting experience, sitting there and listening for several hours. Usually I read verses, maybe a chapter or two. Hearing the whole sweep of books at one time, and different books, gave a very different perspective. You really got the feel of the whole book, the sweep of it. Sometimes I had no inspiration and just listened. Other times I was in the middle of working when something else caught my attention. I wish I had stopped to write down the thoughts and inspirations of such times, because now they're gone. If I have such an opportunity again I will be sure to have things ready for jotting down notes.

He has put Eternity in their hearts...

~ Ecclesiastes 3:11

I loved this, and it was as best as I could represent it. Each one of us is an eternal flame, a spark from His great fire. And He coaxes us out and draws us forward, growing into His light, becoming more and more like Him. He knows us, knows what we will respond to, what we need. And so He works with us individually, keeping us surrounded with His love and constant care.

The Way is Open.

The Spirit and the Bride say "Come"

The words on this were added later, but it was what I heard at the time. The drawing itself was just the curtains pulled back, and the glory within revealed. And as I looked at it, I felt His voice promising "The Way is Open." And I began to cry, because the way had seemed closed for so long. "The Spirit and the Bride say 'Come.'" Not only open, but I am invited, awaited. My heart overflowed.

I knew what the invitation was to me. When I showed it to a friend, she felt a different invitation. And so I offer it to you, for whatever the Father is inviting you to come into at this time.

The Way is Open.

The Spirit and the Bride say "Come."

Digital Whisper Challenge - Windmills

The challenge this week over at Digital Whisper was windmills. So, of course, it was off to the Graphics Fairy to look for windmills.

Just a suggestion of tilting at windmills in the minstrel's song.

Credits: The Graphic Fairy; also Marta van Eck, Rucola Designs, Eenas Creations and Tumble Fish Studios from Mischief Circus.