studios that (in)spire

When we talk about being creative most of us have a picture of our dream studio that comes to mind.  For now though we tell ourselves we would do more art, more reading, more praying, more fill in the blank if only we had such a space.

We talk ourselves out of being creative because the “perfect” space isn’t there.  "That” room is for guests or kids or a play room or a home office.  How much is that we don’t give space to the creative?  Or is it feeling we don’t “deserve” the space?  Or is it that we are afraid?

I know for me it was a mix of all of those things and likely many more I don’t want to look at yet.  In talking with my (in)spired sisters it is clear that even without the dream studio that need to create finds its way into our current spaces…

“My studio space right now is the corner of my couch, with projects piled on the end table and under the end table. *sigh* Wishing for the energy to set up another space, a "real" one, in my basement. For now, the couch and table are my real create space.”

“My chair in the living room with TV trays to hold my stuff. I do have an easel that I set up there too.”

“ My current preferred space is one of my kitchen counters...I like the height and being able to stand while I create - plus access to the sink. But it gets a bit dicey when I need the counter space to actually cook and the art isn't finished, yet.”

“The kitchen sink or a table in the living room behind the couch”

When the time to create comes, we make space for it to happen.

For the first time in my life I have my own “studio.”  We had a guest room with few guests now that our nest is empty.  So I covered the bed with an old door and added a card table.  Ta-da! 

My first ever space that was all mine to create, be messy, and play.  My art and more supplies than I have ever had before have taken over (and I can move the door if we do have guests).

A question about dream studios and current spaces with some sister friends led to sharing about birthday promises that include one converting a home office into a studio space and another remaking a portion of the empty nest into the studio.  One sister even moved taking an art class up on her priority list.  Another is going to paint a room and put her paintings on a wall in her space.

God has given us the ability.  We have the space (even if it is a tiny corner in a room or on the couch).  We have the creativity in us.  What stumbling blocks keep us from taking the space and using the gifts God has given us?

What about you?  What keeps you from claiming the space and the ability to co-create with God? 

Join us next week as we begin putting our (in)spired studio into virtual reality!

Linking up with Jennifer over at studio jru.

shyness unmasked

For an extrovert I can be really shy …ok maybe not shy.  Can one really be an extrovert and shy at the same time?  Apparently one can according to a quick Google search.  But this thing, it doesn’t seem like it is shy.  For as much as I long for community and reach for it, I am beginning to realize how much I run from it when it comes my way. 

I recently had the chance to begin moving into a deeper relationship with a woman I met through an (in)courage group.  For some reason we connected via conversations about life, faith, children, and grandchildren.  She sees something in me that led her to reach out.  I was honored and blessed because I think she is a great writer and she is a hero in many ways.  Yet each time we were supposed to chat via phone or computer, I suddenly “had something come up.” 

Then you know that one friend who has seen you at your absolute worst?  You know the one who has shared too many tissues, too much chocolate?  The one you call when the tears are coming so hard she can’t understand you, but reminds you to breathe any way? 

Yea, her…  She recently moved even further away and we have talked about Skype time, but I just couldn’t do it.  Why?  Well…she would see me.  I mean SEE me.  The day off, tired, cranky, grubby clothes me who was in the midst of a pity party me.  And that wouldn’t be pretty.  (yes she has seen me at my worst, but this was “different”).

As I tried to unpack the baggage that goes with the disconnect between my love of connecting with people and sharing stories and this me that runs away from community, I realize this is nothing new.

It goes back to that same place I hid as a little girl and then as a teenager and later as a single mother.  The one who was afraid to let people in because they would see the real me.  The one who had secrets at home.  The one who tried so hard to fit in she belonged nowhere. 

If you don’t see the real me, you can’t dislike me, right?  Or so I told myself (and others apparently). 

When I finally was brave enough to be honest to the (hopefully still) new friend and my sister friend it was like an elephant crawled off my chest.  Oh it wasn’t easy, but I did it. 

I even lasted longer than 30 seconds on Skype.  Joshua Brayden Beast stayed right there and let me pet him to stay almost calm.  And I even said the words out loud.  I.  Am.  Afraid. 

Last year I read this great book and took part in an online study group about masks.  For all I got out of it, I have quickly unlearned just as much.  That mask taker upper has reemerged in my life. 

As one who seriously lives a liturgical life (even my table cloth at home matches the season) I am living that desert time called Lent.  That time of heading into the desert to face the tempter and temptations.  The ones that take my eyes off God. 

When I look in the mirror, I realize the biggest tempter stares back at me right there in the mirror.  Her eyes that won’t quite meet mine.  The tilt to her head that she thinks keeps her safe.  She is frightened and that is sinful. 

Because she is wonderfully and fearfully made. 

By a God who loves her even more than the friend who sees her at her worst. 

And that running?  She isn’t running from intimacy with friends or even herself…

She is running from God. 

Because there? 

There is no hiding. 

And that has nothing to do with shyness and everything to do with fear and doubt.

So for Lent this year? 

She is going to try to be brave.  She is asking those who love her (including God) to not let her hide. 

And maybe someday that mask taker upper can be patted gently on the head and thanked for helping her hide when she needed to, but now?  Now she doesn’t need masks.

Because God has this.  

And her.  

Right in the palm of God’s hand.

http://www.virtue31.org/2012/02/scripture-of-day.html

The gift of community....

Today is the DAY!!!!!

Registration for (in)RL 2013 is live!

(in)RL was born out of two years spent listening to women in the comments at (in)courage craving local, real life community. Derived from the social media acronym “IRL” or “in real life,” (in)RL is an invitation to share what we’ve learned about community and encourage women with stories and suggestions for connecting deeper in real life.

   Think of it as a FREE girl’s weekend away that doesn’t require packing or plane tickets, where women can kick off any expectation of perfect, set aside their fears, their shyness, their worry that they’re not good enough, and find some of Jesus’ words of rest woven into every video shared here.

Here are a few reasons you might want to register:

  Everyone who registers on the day registration opens (Monday Jan 14) gets a copy of our (in)courage 365 Daybrightener while supplies last (US residents only).

  Everyone gets a copy of our first eBook: “Best of the Beach House 2012.”

The webcast kicks off on Friday, April 26th and local meetups are on Saturday, April 27th.

The focus this year will be looking closer at what it takes to stay rooted in community when sometimes just walking away would be so much easier and tons more convenient.  

 Women share stories of how they've chosen to stay through hard marriages, challenging parenting, worthwhile friendships. How choosing to stay has freed them more fully and unexpectedly than if they'd cut and run.

Still not sure?

Watch this:

Have questions?  Be in touch with me or go to the (in)courage website.

Watch for details for a meetup right in your own community!

So go here now and register!  

speaking of gifts, here are mine:

those gifts i already have,

given by the giver of all...

21.  baby burros, llamas, and goats on a drive

22.  hearing God in the midst of the prayers of a sister

23.  untying knots

24.  holy meals after long meetings

25.  laughing over lunch

26.  finding one who was lost

27.  hiding under the covers with a cold

28.  seeing "that" movie and agreeing with the hype

29.  Greek food

30.  "a car full of Christian women"

31.  growing deeper with one another

32.  encouraging words in unexpected places

33.  hearing people i love say they are proud of me

34.  baptism practice

35.  the "real" baptism

36.  balcony people

37.  seeing tears as words of truth and hope are spoken

38.  Isaiah 43.1...really...really...knowing it IS true

39.  being together again for Java Jesus after too long of a break

40.  my "tribe" helping carry me through the waters as they rise and the fire when it burns

being fed in new ways

Just over a month ago my sister Catherine and I were part of the launch of a new ministry to women over at (in)courage.  Since then a group that has fluctuated a bit in number has tried to find community over at (in)spired as a closed group at Facebook.

There was an initial excitement as we got to know one another in this new way.  God was obviously up to something bigger than we expected.  Many of us couldn't step away from our computers for long because we just might miss something the first few days.

It was clear women over fifty were anxious for connection.  Social media is still foreign to many of us.  Some have had difficulty with trust (including the facilitators) in the internet world.  Others have had difficulty with time to be on social media or to be a part of a structured study.

Being the one who has a hard time with spontaneity, I suggested we do a study and why not the (in)RL one since this group is a ministry of (in)courage?  It became clear that direction was not the one God was leading us in.  Oh the study started some great conversations, but life got in the way and it was hard to keep the study moving in a consistent (and linear) way.

When we asked for honest feedback you could have heard a virtual pin drop, crickets chirp, clocks ticking...then one brave women said the study wasn't working for her, another said she appreciated knowing we were praying for one another, others appreciated that we were sharing our lives as parents, children, grandparents, artists, and children of God.  One bold and (in)spired lady suggested we follow the Acts 2 model of life together.

We listened and talked and prayed.  There are women who are part of the group who have never posted, not even once.  My sister (who at times is so much more in tune to others than I) reminded me this group is like an IRL group in that some will actively participate while others stand back and watch what goes on around them.  While they do not appear to be involved, they are being blessed by the interaction.

We are in fellowship, praying with and for one another,  and being fed in a way that many of us still struggle to be comfortable with.  Some of us participate more than others and even so,God is in the midst of this beautiful group of women over fifty who are creative and (in)spired children of God.

This group is bread in new forms for many of us as we learn how to be in community using means we are still learning to be comfortable with.  This bread may not look, feel, smell, sound, or taste like bread we are used to in this world past fifty, yet it is bread indeed.  Bread that nourishes us and brings us together in new ways.  

How are you being fed in the group this week?  Share here or on our Facebook page.

how are you?

do you ask because you really want to know?

is it safe to be honest?

because at this moment i am so un-fine.  it is so many little things that seem like a really big thing.  

i didn't sleep well last night because...well i just didn't.  

when i woke up i had a crick in my neck...

but do you really want to know that?  do you want to know...

that i went home and found a mess in the kitchen?

that the dog threw up (again)?

that the pants i hoped to wear to work were dirty?

that i feel like any moment i am going to come unraveled...shatter into a million pieces?

the mask comes out of hiding and gets firmly placed on my face.  the smile tacked on with the earrings.  

see i'm fine...except i'm not.  

i'm having one of those days my heart is tender and that look feels like a sword.  

that text undoes me because i think you are upset with me.  

i want to crawl under the covers and hide because there it is warm and dark and safe, but i can't.  

i'm supposed act fine...but i am so un-fine right now.  

i want to be held close and have a really good cry.  the snot slinging, use the entire box of kleenex, where is the visine kind of cry.  the kind of cry that is exhausting but lets it all out kind of cry.  

but there isn't time for that right now...so i'll act fine for a little longer...

a text sent to a prayer warrior, a pm on facebook to an (in)courage friend, an email to another grandma, and sweet, sweet words that remind me, i am so not un-fine. 

peace falls around me like a blanket.  i just got lost for a little while and let go of Christ's hand.  thought i could do it all alone.  

how are you?  join us over at (in)spired and let us really know.

(in)rl study

While looking for community in a new place God led me to this incredible place named (in)courage.

it was there i began to form relationships with

women who felt like sisters to me.  many of them

i will never meet IRL (in real life),

yet they helped me walk through a dark time.

along the way i discovered the (in)RL study.

i did it on my own and loved it!

now months later i am walking with another

group of women and we are going to do this study

together!  i am excited to see what God will 

do in and through us with this study.

interested in studying with us?

head over to (in)spired and ask to join us.

For where two or three 

gather together as my followers,

# I am there among them.”

Matthew 18.20 NLT

five minute friday ~welcome

only thing happening in my studio this week...stay tuned next week

Welcome is...

those arms that hold me tight after the tears have been held in too long

the voice of my dear sister when i need to be brave no longer

cuddling with da beast and da bear on a saturday morning when it is too cold to leave the covers

the timeless words of a holy meal shared with beloved ones

floating on a pool with a sister when the world gets heavy

diving into study  in my daddy's Words

a new place to let my hair down and love and be loved on by godly women

it is reading words that make me brave enough to ask hard questions

it is sinking my hands and my heart into works that untangle the knots in my soul

it is finding that place i belong with women who capture what i see when i close my eyes and write words that are in my head

it is in holy notes that lift me to heaven sometimes in voices of two and sometimes thousands

it is my daddy's arms welcome begins and ends.


Those are the words that came when I set my timer...wanna join in?  Here's how...

Now, set your timer, clear your head, for five minutes to just write without worrying if it’s just right or not.

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community..

Oh and Ahem, if you would take pity and turn off comment verification, it would make leaving some love on your post that much easier for folks!

If you want to know more, visit Lisa-Jo's blog.  For you (in)spired ladies without blogs?   Post to our group page.  

And here you will find a free online timer.

Ready...set...go...

(in)spired ~ day two

At one point I was painfully shy (those of you who know me well can quit laughing at this point) and so my tomboy self curled up under my desk with books, my favorite pillow, and I wrote a lot.  My friends were mostly boys because boys, well, they did “stuff.”  Dolls and playing house held little appeal for me.  I felt free climbing trees, digging mud holes, and spending hours with green army men when not playing baseball or swimming.

A byproduct of that was not feeling like I knew how to have friends of the female persuasion.  I had a wonderful group of high school friends who let me tag along and taught me some things and even threw me a surprise sweet sixteen slumber party, but truly it wasn't until seminary when I had a best friend that was female. it was also in seminary i fell in love with the color pink and being a girl.

I was given the gift of a woman who would pray, laugh, cry, and create with me as she challenged me and reminded me that sometimes it was enough to just breathe to get through a hard thing.  When seminary ended so did the physical connection of that relationship.  We have stayed as close as we can with life happening two states apart (and soon a few more).

Since that time I have hungered for the companionship of other godly women.  I have other women friends yet I seek women who let me be real and broken and well, me.  In the midst of a dark time God led me to the incredible ministry of (in)courage through a book that sang to my soul.  In this incredible place I connected with other women.  Women whose pictures, and words, and art spoke to my soul. Women who helped me feel connected, loved, and nurtured.

Then one day I was asked if I wanted to give back to the community that had thrown me a lifeline.  I jumped at the chance not knowing my dear sister wanted to as well.  We each signed up…and waited… “they won’t pick me” the hissing one said…but they did!  And the best part?  My sister and I get to facilitate a group together!

So we connected with a group of women who also said yes and we became (in)couragers.  We began bonding with one another through social media.  And we dreamed and we prayed and we joked and we got scared and we waited.  Then we prayed some more.  During that time the incredible StaceyThacker held our hands and walked us through the details of this ministry with folks whose names I may never know.  And Lisa-Jo Baker without our even knowing it prayed for us and sent us cyber chocolate even when we didn't know we needed it.

I couldn't sleep the night before "the launch" and I said it was because I didn't feel good.  And then October 2^nd came and it was scary…it was 1 am,  2:13 am, and 3:36 am and finally 5 am and we were LIVE!  Who would pick me?  Us?  

And then it was like Christmas!  And then Easter!  And then my Birthday too! There was one gift and then another and another and another…and I did a happy dance and cried tears of joy as sisters came out of cyberspace to walk this journey with us.  And they keep coming. And coming.

I don’t know where God is going to take this thing called (in)spired, but I do know God is right in the middle of this and just as He knows the number of hairs on my head, He knows just what this group will be.  Thanks be to God!

I also know that if (in)spired is not the right fit for you, there are other groups that may be, they are here.  And come December 2^nd there will be another set of groups to bless the socks off women looking for community.

I wish we could all take our shoes off, let our hair down, pick up our favorite fall drink, cuddle on a couch and just get to know one another.  Let’s figure out how to do that in this space. For today, head over to our group page and share how we can bless your socks off and be a gift to you.  

I pray each of you know the joy that comes as God answers the prayer of the heart (even one you may not know you have).  

Know that each of you is being prayed for by others that you may never meet this side of heaven and that your time with us is a blessing.

Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God.  Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer.  I find myself praying for you with a glad heart.  (Phil. 1.3-4, MSG)