Learning to Pray

I am learning a new way to pray. I'm learning to hold people before Jesus, without even having to speak words for them. When I pray this way, I place the person in my hands and with my palms open lift them up into His lap. The Holy Spirit knows what we need, more than we even know for ourselves or for others, so I am learning to allow the Holy Spirit to guide my prayer requests.

Please hold the WMF Team in your hands.

Pray for visions. Pray for miracles. Pray for dreams.

Most of all, pray for love.

3!

 

It's hard to believe he's 3 already...

Thanksgiving Fun!

 

Dinner with the little rascals!

Thanksgiving Sledding!

 

It is a blessed thing to know that no power on earth, no temptation, no human frailty can dissolve what God holds together.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Letters and Papers from Prison

Summation of Where I'm At

This post does a great job of summing up where I'm at right now...more to come...

http://drawingcloser.blogspot.com/

Finding rhythm

These have been my lessons as of late:

Close your ears. Close your mouth. And listen.

When noise seems to surround me on every side, I start to grow accustomed to it, allowing it to permeate me and become part of who I am. But when I come to the realization that I've allowed this to go on, I cut it off. Turn off the cell phone, the TV, the computer, the radio. I light some candles and sit on my living room floor and just regroup. I talk to God. Journal my thoughts and have a real conversation with Him. I pull out some acryllics and canvas and paint. I try to do whatever makes me focus best. And most of all, I have learned to take time to listen.

Don't get me wrong, I have not arrived by any means. In fact, I'm feeling pretty fed up with myself today, trying to cut the crap and get to where I need to be with God and with my life.

Cherish solitude.

Although community is something I believe to be vital to our existence both as humans and as Christians, there is such value in solitude. Something about solitude reminds me of how small I am, because when I'm alone I tend to look around at the world and remember that I am only a single part of a beautiul tapestry. But I also remember that I belong.


Embrace silence.

Silence used to make me uncomfortable, especially in the company of someone else. But now, I feel like I cannot live without times of silence in each day. Granted I am not a morning person, I greatly enjoy not having to speak for the first hour or so of my day. I can just quietly allow the day to begin and wait for the rest of me to catch up. It works well.

Another value of silence I've found is when an entire room full of people is perfectly quiet together in the presence of God. I've heard people recount stories time and time again of how some of the most potent times of corporate worship they've experience is when everyone and everything was still and quiet. I can tell similar stories, indeed.

Simplify.

I hate clutter, even though my mother may tell you otherwise when I lived under the same roof as them. Either way, at the core, I am something of a minimalist. Although I love decorating and coordinating colors and themes, I don't like to have a lot of unnecessary stuff. I'm not a pack rat. I organize often. Yet, somehow, I allow clutter into my life in the form of distractions.

Media can be a big downfall for me, considering I am a communicator by nature. I love hearing stories as much as I enjoy telling them. I love interacting with others as much as I love watching people interact with each other and with their surroundings. I enjoy watching people go about their time in an airport or at a coffee shop. I'm not easily bored, really. And I very much enjoy a well-scripted and strongly produced TV show.

All this to say, I have to keep myself in check with how much I allow media to be a part of my life. I find nothing wrong with enjoying a good episode of my favorite show or time spent skipping around Facebook. But it really is about balance and priority. It's a battle all of us fight, one way or another.

Don't get comfortable.

I was laying in my bed one night, overwhelmed at how faithful God has been. I feel like I'm finally on my own two feet. His perfect will has been so evident in my life lately (especially when I fight it), and it's undoubtedly taken me by surprise. But as I looked around me that night, I felt God speak to me.

None of this should make you happy. None of this should make feel secure. Only I can do that.

Wow. How true it is when I look at my recent striving for security and my bitter failure at finding it outside His arms. I fall to pieces every time I try to battle it out and find some sort of temporal security blanket. And then I come back to Him, laying the whole mess of me at His feet. He embraces me every time.

And here I am. I know that I am perfectly safe where I belong, even though I have had more than one nay-sayer about my disposition recently. And though it may seem strange (even to me) that I chose to come back to Tulsa when I could have gone almost anywhere, I am thoroughly enjoying this season of my life. I feel like I have grown more into who I am. I'm also learning about parts of me that I never realized existed and about things that make me come alive that I haven't done before. It's beautiful, and I'm grateful. So once again I say...

Here's to the journey.

Painting found in trash sells for $1M

Nuts...why can't I be this lucky?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071121/ap_on_fe_st/trash_treasure

Wed Nov 21, 10:16 AM ET

NEW YORK - An abstract masterpiece by a Mexican artist that was found in the trash by a woman who knew little about modern art has been sold for more than $1 million.
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The painting "Tres Personajes" by Rufino Tamayo was discovered in 2003 by Elizabeth Gibson, who spotted it on her morning walk on Manhattan's Upper West Side. She said she took it home because "even though I didn't understand it, I knew it had power."

The brightly colored abstract work was purchased for $1,049,000 by an unidentified private American collector bidding by phone at Sotheby's Latin American Art sale Tuesday night.

Gibson spent four years trying to find out about the painting, finally discovering on the "Antiques Roadshow" Web site that it had been featured on the popular PBS program and described as a missing masterpiece stolen in 1989.

Gibson has received a $15,000 reward for turning in "Tres Personajes" and also will get a percentage of the sale price.

Painted in 1970, "Tres Personajes" was purchased by a Houston collector for $55,000 as a gift for his wife at a Sotheby's auction in 1977. Ten years later, as the couple was moving to a new home, it was stolen from storage.

The husband has since died, and the widow, who wished to remain anonymous, decided to sell it.

Tamayo was born in 1899 and died in 1991. His early work has similarities to that of famed 20th century muralist Diego Rivera. His later work features the vivid colors and expressions of his native state of Oaxaca.

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Favorite Artist, Best Song...

Sam Beam's Resurrection Fern

Josh Ritter

DSC_0161
Originally uploaded by unrulybadger.

Got to see this man, Josh Ritter, in concert at the Exit In in Nashville on Friday night. Great show, great venue and felt a bit of nostalgia seeing him play where anyone who is anyone plays in Nashville.