One Little Word May

My word for 2016 is Rest. It has been both an encouraging and a challenging word. I chose this word for two main reasons: I lean toward burn-out often and I am trying to establish a rhythm or pace of life that incorporates downtime and includes the practices and things that give me energy. This is rest. And the second reason is I cannot do number one and juggle a very hectic and busy,yet satisfying, full time job in ministry without resting (depending) more on God. As I've written before, some years have been more successful than others as I have participated in Ali Edward's One Little Word. I am determined that this year I will connect with it all year. Ali's prompts and activities are really a great way to make my word an active part of my life. I did, however, skip April and am giving myself permission to be okay with that! For April I just did a quote on the divider page.

In May our challenge was to get behind the lens of our camera and take photos of things that capture our word for us. At first I thought it would be difficult to visualize rest, but then it really just became an exercise in capturing images of the things that bring me energy and help me rest.

(Photo: Church cemetery in Charleston, SC)

For me, the rest I seek most is to rest in God. Doing so brings great peace.

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

(Photo: Beulah Beach on Lake Erie)

(Photo: Church cemetery in Charleston, SC

(Photo: Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge)

Not only do I enjoy birding and bird photography, but they are also a reminder to trust God - to rest in Him.

"Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" Matthew 6:26

The flip side of my May divider:

And the flip-side of my photo pocket page:

January Sneak Peak

For the past month I have been busy getting ready for the start of Take Me Deeper, a free weekly devotion and art challenge being offered for 2015 in out new faith art community His Kingdom Come (HKC). We begin on January 2 and I had the privilege to write the devotions for January in partnership with Diane Marra. In all honesty, I don't often read devotions. I lean toward more in-depth Bible study and reading and don't normally let other things, like devotions, cut in on that time. But since our theme is "Take Me Deeper" I found that I really enjoyed writing devotions that utilized my love for Bible Study. I hope you'll join us in January and journey with us through the year. We will have a variety of people writing devotions and offering art challenges, plus we will have a year long journey with choosing and using a word called logos365.

Anyway, all of this prep for the devotions and getting my art journal pages ready has used most of my art time. And since we are launching in January, I can't share with you until then. This has presented a new challenge for me since I blog about my art and my faith and I have had no art to post! But I can tease you with some sneak peaks from my January pages!

I enjoyed writing the devotions so much that I believe you will see more of them here on my blog in the future. On Christmas day we begin a new series at church working our way through the Gospel of John. I am excited about this on a number of levels. First, I love when we go though an entire book of the Bible. God always shows us things we didn't expect when we journey through a book. Second, John is one of my favorite books of the Bible. John uses some words repeatedly that will be interesting to explore - believe, world, sent, life - just to name a few. We have no idea how long we will be in this book.You can expect some devotions and some art from this book during our time in John's gospel. :)

It is Christmas weekend at camp. We brought 10 kids and two teen leaders to camp this weekend. I love the experience they have here for Christmas. The staff at Youth Haven really makes a meaningful and joyful experience for kids who come from families who are struggling in a variety of ways. Tonight they will be served a Christmas dinner as though they are in a fancy restaurant. We have 11 adults from our church traveling up to camp who will serve as waiters for the kids. If the weather cooperates we may go Christmas caroling tonight. Then tomorrow they will see a skit of the Christmas story, celebrate Jesus' birthday and receive presents. A room full of 50 kids and a dozen teens full of excitement is a joy to experience! I am so thankful to be a part of it and to have these kids in my life.

I'm also thankful for good Internet connection this weekend so I can post this! It isn't always the case here at camp. Have a great weekend!

Introducing Logos365 2015

Over the past few years I have made it a practice to select a word for the year and have entered each year anticipating what God would do in my life through the focus of that word. Some years I followed along with Ali Edwards One Little Word project or participated in other word for the year projects. For me, 2015 will be different though. The new faith art community we have begun, His Kingdom Come, will be offering an opportunity to participate with a word from God in our logos365™ project. Will you join me?

What word is God giving you in 2015?

His Kingdom Come will be leading our members in Logos365 during 2015.

His Kingdom Come believes that there is great power in the Word of God.  Many people choose one word that represents what they want to see more of in their life during a year. There are websites and books dedicated to this.  New Year resolutions come and go very quickly, but this process is allowing God to work in your life and for your focus to become His word for you that lasts an entire year in your life. People choose this word through thoughts or through a word occurring in their reading or devotion time that “speaks” to them. At His Kingdom Come we believe that God will guide us to what he wants to see more of in our lives during the year. 

The logos365™ project is our way of finding your word through prayer, bible study and reflection. What do you do with your logos365™?  You live with it, you invite it into your life, and you let it speak to you. You follow where it leads you.  Your logos365™ is not some promise you will keep for the rest of the year to be better. The intent of your word is that it will become a part of your for the rest of your life.  Your word builds upon each other each year, and springs forth from the places you feel you left off from your previous word.  Each word you choose builds upon each other as God’s heart becomes embedded in your character. So, the question is

As you consider selecting a word for yourself this year, remember there is no right or wrong choice. Words like abide, abundance, obey, expect, prayer, surrender, delight, submit and listen can be a very powerful experience as you allow God to guide you in your word.  This happens in your daily life, in prayer, relationships and bible study.  

So how do you find your logos365™?  Feel free to use the self- assessment tools posted at His Kingdom Come in the logos365™  group to help you identify your word and to set some personal goals around your word.  If you have participated in a one word program before choose the logos365™ returning student worksheet, or if you are totally new to the process use the logos365™ new student worksheet.

To make logos365™ real in your life, consider keeping a logos365™ journal, or creating a scrapbook or a photo book. Keeping a journal throughout the year is crucial to making this word project not just a new year’s resolution, but a change in your walk- a transformation!  If you are participating in the take me deeper process, then you can incorporate your logos365™ into your journal.   If you are not participating in the take me deeper process here are some logos365™ suggestions.

1.      Journaling: There are many kinds of journaling you can do. Pick one that works for you.

·         Open a word document on your computer that you write in each day

·         Get a spiral notebook, that you use to journal this process

·         Buy a blank page journal where you can do some doodling, drawing, and pasting pictures, etc

·         Create an art journal where you can write and play (can use your Take me deeper journal)

·         Create a weekly, monthly or quarterly post on your blog or at His Kingdom Come about your logos365™ journey.

2.       Accountability: share your logos365™ with your local small group.  If you don’t have a local small group, we invite you to share at His Kingdom come. Share your word and stay accountable with the online group throughout the year!   Find an accountability partner either in person or on HKC. This would be someone that you can share your deepest thoughts with and who will hold you accountable to your own goals and process. 

3.       Local small group:  Schedule specific meeting dates that you can discuss with your small group and your accountability partner during this stepping out in faith.

4.       Online group at His Kingdom Come: we will spend a few weeks in January seeking our logos365™. There are worksheets available for free to assist you in the process of spending time with God and discovering what logos365™ He provides to you.  Quarterly we will have a weekly discussion about your ongoing progress, any struggles, any praise reports and would love to see how your logos365™ has intertwined throughout your life.

5.      Create- make something to keep in your home, at your desk like a canvas, quilt, photo, poem, art journal, wooden word art that will keep your logos365™ in front of you throughout the year. See His Kingdom come for lots of creative examples.

Go deeper

Find out how logos365™ will impact your daily life

And draw you closer to the person God wants you to be

Will you walk out in faith with us in 2015 and live by your logos365™?

Come and have fun, faith and friendship for free at His Kingdom Come!

Join us at http://his-kingdom-come.com/ and sign up for the logos365™ group.

Join the Group http://his-kingdom-come.com/groups/logos365

My One Little Word and a Giveaway!

If you have been a follower of this blog then one thing you know about me is that I like old dictionaries and books. I love to collage with their pages and incorporate them into my art journaling. I even opened an Etsy shop as a result of this hobby (obsession, addiction). You also know from my previous post that I am following along with Ali Edward's One Little Word challenge group again this year. As I was working on my page defining my word and writing about why I chose it, I naturally incorporated a bit of a page from an old dictionary onto my page.

As I was working on this page I was also working on putting together more of the vintage page packs that I offer in my shop..I very rarely work on one thing at a time! That was when I came up with the idea that there may be others who are participating in any of the numerous "word of the year" groups out there who may also want to incorporate dictionary definitions into their pages and journals. And that they may not collect dictionaries ...ok, have an addiction to dictionaries like I do So, I thought, why not make vintage paper packs for specific words to be used by those who are doing One Little Word, Project Life, My One Word, etc. So that is just what I did yesterday during the snowstorm of the season here in Ohio

I am now offering these Word Themed Page Packs with pages from dictionaries, thesaurus', poetry books, quote books, old books and magazines and anywhere else I can find text or images that express a particular word. I will put them together based on YOUR OLW. I already have complete Word Theme Paper Packs for the following words: free, beauty, hope, faith, light, shine, love, and have begun pulling pages with many, many other words.

To kick off this new idea of mine I am giving away a Word Themed Paper Pack on Friday, January 10. All you have to do is leave a comment below telling me what your word for the year is and I will randomly draw a name from those comments on Friday. Please leave a comment by midnight on Thursday, January 9.

To see previews of the Word Themed Paper packs visit my Etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/FoundonBrighton?ref=si_shop or click the link in the column on the right.

My finished OLW definition page:

If you would like to learn more about Ali Edwards One Little Word you can visit her website http://aliedwards.com/shop/one-little-word-2014.

OLW Journey to Gratitude

This year I want to be more intentional about putting into practice habits and goals that will enable my word for the year to result in a renewed mind and heart.  I want my life to be shaped by gratitude. I want to become more positive and more loving. I want my thoughts to be prompted by grace first, rather than criticism or cynicism ~ as embarrassing as that is to admit. I want to become even more aware of myself and how I am wired in order to prevent the "slow drift" from happening again and again.

I have selected a passage of scripture to go along with my word and journey for this year:

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

This passage speaks to me of making the choice to rejoice, to pray and to give thanks. That I need to be intentional about doing things that will focus my mind and heart on God's ways and that the mindset shift I desire will result out of those choices and practices. In addition, the "for" is very important here because it points to a higher purpose than just my attitude or my heart condition ~ choosing to to do these things and make them a way of life and the focus of my heart and mind is God's will for His people. Here is an answer to the "What is God's will for my life?" questions! 

One Word for 2013

Over the years I have selected a word at the beginning of the year as a word to guide my thoughts and goals for the year. I spend time praying about it. I look over my journals for the past year looking for where God may be pressing in on me, areas that need attention, areas in my life that are ready for more spiritual transformation. So, this year my word is...

It's so easy in life to drift, to slowly allow things to effect us in ways that eventually change us, whether we're aware of it or not. For me, I've battled over the past few years with drifting into negative thinking. I don't know exactly how it happened or when it began. I think there's been a thread of it within me all my life, but recently I've noticed that it's become more dominant. I think in part it's a dark side to my nature. I'm a visionary thinker. I see pictures of how things in life should be. I get pretty passionate about affecting change, especially in my job in the church. Reality often is far from the vision of how things should be and it's often very hard being instruments for change. These battles tend to make me weary, and when I am weary I'm not as good at balancing my attitudes. I've been weary for a number of years and this is where I believe the drift toward a negative outlook has crept in. I have not enjoyed noticing this drift. I've always had a fairly positive outlook, even through many years in my life of facing difficult life situations and trials. It has been a tough battle for me over the past few years to try to figure out how to change this attitude/perspective drift. It has been a constant part of my prayer life and I've spent a lot of time looking at this with my pastor/mentor over the past few years. Some of the practices I've made a part of my life have come about as ways to try to keep the weariness at bay, as I have become aware of how much the weariness/burn-out tendencies feed this negative outlook. Practices such as art journaling, making "white space" in my week, self-discovery, balancing my schedule, and doing things that re-energize me on a regular basis help keep me from drifting into weariness.

Then a few months ago I started noticing that many times in Scripture prayer and thanksgiving are connected. For example: 

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
And this study led me to looking at making gratitude a practice. This practice of gratitude and its effects on changing my perspective is what I intend to explore throughout the year.

As a way of keeping me focused and on track through the year, I have joined Ali Edward's group/class "One Little Word". It is more scrapbook based, which I'm not into, so I have made a journal to art journal my journey with this word. Ali's first challenge for the month of January was to create a list of 12 intentions that fit our word to use as guidelines through the year. It was a good practice for focusing in on areas to concentrate on for the year...to be intentional in creating a journey for growth.

The start of my Gratitude Journal ~ an altered book, of course!

First page.
The quote from Ali Edwards reads:
"A single word can be a powerful thing. It can be the ripple in the pond that changes everything."

Gratitude definition and synonyms

My intentions for making gratitude a way of life.

The first few weeks of this month/year have started out very busy ~ hosted a baby shower, finishing and presenting the church budget, some draining issues to work through with some people ~ I'm ready to get back on track. Ready to re-connect with the very practices I spoke of above! 

My "Word" for 2012

My word for 2011 was "freedom".  That was also my word for 2010. My desire has been to be free from some mindsets and attitudes that are unhealthy and to be more free to walk in the freedom that is ours through our faith in Christ.

The other day I was writing in my journal. Over the past weeks and months I've been looking at God's love for us and our call to love others. I struggle so much with accepting that God loves me unconditionally. I struggle a lot with loving others - unconditionally. And it struck me, as I was writing in my journal, that all of this ~ receiving God's love for me and my ability to love others ~ can be summed up in the words "through Christ".  So, my "one word" for 2012 is "through". Through Christ. It seems to fit well. After having the word freedom for two years, it fits that "through" {Christ} is this year's word, since it is through Christ that we live in freedom.

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces, all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."  2 Corinthians 3:17-18

So, there it is, my one word for the year ahead: through. I don't have a theme verse yet, but it will come. As will the art to express it.