When I was a little girl I loved The Chronicles of Narnia. I mean LOVED. I secretly thought I could have a similar adventure. I figured it wasn't so out of the realm of possibility, after all with all that God has created in this vast universe, why wouldn't He create life somewhere else. And why wouldn't different rules apply that we would call "magic." As I grew up I slowly (and sadly) came to the realization that I wasn't going to be whisked away to another world to have an adventure. Yet the longing for such an experience never left. I've always had a wanderlust, which fit my childhood full of moving all over the country. Every now and then I have such a strong desire to pick up and move somewhere exotic or to a land with a rich history. I can picture me going all by myself to Scotland's University of St Andrew to get my master's in art history (concentrating on Bernini's sculptures). But I realized that I really do like having a home to come back to. I love being near my family and having a church home full of good friends. Sometimes I can be such a loner that I forget how important those relationships are to me. I like quiet evenings and nighttime walks alone to study the stars. I love reading and listening to music, or going to movies by myself. Being around people too much can exhaust me. I suppose part of that is because of my introspective and pensive nature. Also for the most part, I feel like the majority of people don't really know me. I'm good at hiding my true nature, I always seem to be such a social being, but I find it hard to talk to most people on a deeper level. So I wind up having mostly surface relationships with most and few that ever delve deeper than that. I guess I'm a lot like my dad in that way. But I've realized that I wouldn't have been able to make it through this summer's trials with out my amazing family and my new friends at church. I have such an amazing support system! And as much of a loner as I can be, I know that I long for someone that I can share my thoughts with on that deeper level. I think so often that prefer to be alone because I always feel lonely and at least when I'm actually alone I don't have to pretend.
Anyways, the point of all of that was that I've learned that I need both my alone time and my friends and family. I need both the adventure and the home. So my plan is that instead of moving to Europe, I'm going to plan a trip there for this fall. By myself for probably at least a month. Then I'll have my adventure but have a great home to come back to.
Another adventure coming up in my future is going to be opening my own business. Right now I'm working on making enough jewelry to have it carried at my work. (I already know the owners are interested) and then eventually I'll open my own store with jewelry, clothing, and paintings all of my own creation. I already have a name thanks to Hannah! It's going to be called The Parliament with an owl on the sign. It, and the name of this blog, are derived from the old English naming of groups of birds. Like an exaltation of larks, a watch of nightingales, a murder of crows, an ostentation of peacocks, or an unkindness of ravens. This combines both my love of birds, especially owls, and a reference to literature. Right now I just have to figure out the business side of selling my jewelry at work. I'm excited for Tuesday because I get to meet a girl that works at the Squash Blossom in Vail (I work at the Colorado Springs Squash Blossom) that sells her jewelry in our stores. I can't wait to pick her brain! :)
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Pilot
After a lifetime of avid journaling the old fashioned way, I decided it was time to start blogging. Partly as a release of some of the junk that I've gone through this past year and partly to start interesting conversations with people I currently only have casual ones with. I'll also share my new art work, things I'm reading and great music I'm listening to.
Currently I'm going through the Bible from Genesis all the way through. I've read most of the Bible, but as my faith grows I have recognized the importance of every word that God has given to us, which is why I started with the toughest part for me to "get through," The Old Testament. I now see the need for me to understand the Bible as a whole recognizing patterns and trends as much as knowing single verses by heart. And the amazing thing is how much God has shown me even while reading what I thought would be boring; things that I didn't understand the importance of and thought were useless and outdated details. But really, how could anything be useless or boring when it is a direct communication from our Lord?! The God of all creation chose these things to write to everyone. For example: in Exodus when God gives Moses the directions for building the temple, the Ark of the Covenant, the priests' clothing, etc, God gives such exact instructions, except for certain times He says have someone who is skilled at (sewing or metalsmithing) make such and such designs or fashion this object. There are parts that He leaves up to the artist. I find that so interesting and encouraging that importance God gives the artist. When the Bible says that we are made in God's image, I truly believe that it means that we have tiny aspects of His character. God really is the ultimate artist, everything that we do is a copy or an interpretation of His amazing creation. Even work that claims to be completely non-objective comes from a person, and that person has a lifetime of knowledge and experiences, views and biases. And yet, even our mediocre attempts please God; He recognizes the need to be creative beings and I really feel like He honors our attempts.
Anytime I start to get healthier, physically and spiritually, I find myself longing for those healthier things more and more. As I read and study God's word, I long for it and to continue growing in closeness with Him. Lately I've completely cut out soda and for the most part I've only been drinking water. I started this for two reasons. First just to be healthy plain and simple. The second was a more recent passion of mine. I've been hearing a lot and reading some more about people all over the world that don't have access to clean drinking water. People die everyday from the inability to reach clean water. Or a large part of their day is consumed with the task of fetching clean water. Then I started thinking about how spoiled I am. I drink other things like soda and juice because it tastes better than water. It just made me really disgusted that something that people die because they can't get enough of it isn't good enough for me. So this Christmas my family has decided that we are all contributing to this cause, to help people gain this necessary nourishment, and I'd love anyone else that can feel for this cause to join in.
Currently I'm going through the Bible from Genesis all the way through. I've read most of the Bible, but as my faith grows I have recognized the importance of every word that God has given to us, which is why I started with the toughest part for me to "get through," The Old Testament. I now see the need for me to understand the Bible as a whole recognizing patterns and trends as much as knowing single verses by heart. And the amazing thing is how much God has shown me even while reading what I thought would be boring; things that I didn't understand the importance of and thought were useless and outdated details. But really, how could anything be useless or boring when it is a direct communication from our Lord?! The God of all creation chose these things to write to everyone. For example: in Exodus when God gives Moses the directions for building the temple, the Ark of the Covenant, the priests' clothing, etc, God gives such exact instructions, except for certain times He says have someone who is skilled at (sewing or metalsmithing) make such and such designs or fashion this object. There are parts that He leaves up to the artist. I find that so interesting and encouraging that importance God gives the artist. When the Bible says that we are made in God's image, I truly believe that it means that we have tiny aspects of His character. God really is the ultimate artist, everything that we do is a copy or an interpretation of His amazing creation. Even work that claims to be completely non-objective comes from a person, and that person has a lifetime of knowledge and experiences, views and biases. And yet, even our mediocre attempts please God; He recognizes the need to be creative beings and I really feel like He honors our attempts.
Anytime I start to get healthier, physically and spiritually, I find myself longing for those healthier things more and more. As I read and study God's word, I long for it and to continue growing in closeness with Him. Lately I've completely cut out soda and for the most part I've only been drinking water. I started this for two reasons. First just to be healthy plain and simple. The second was a more recent passion of mine. I've been hearing a lot and reading some more about people all over the world that don't have access to clean drinking water. People die everyday from the inability to reach clean water. Or a large part of their day is consumed with the task of fetching clean water. Then I started thinking about how spoiled I am. I drink other things like soda and juice because it tastes better than water. It just made me really disgusted that something that people die because they can't get enough of it isn't good enough for me. So this Christmas my family has decided that we are all contributing to this cause, to help people gain this necessary nourishment, and I'd love anyone else that can feel for this cause to join in.
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