Our Souvenirs

I did something crazy this evening. Something that was so incredibly nerve-wracking, so fun, and so outside of what I'm used to! I performed in a band, (consisting of my 7 most amazing friends!!) infront of a panel of judges and an audience made up of school kids, teachers and parents. It may not sound like the most incredibly nerve-wracking thing- but trust me, backstage, I was in a panic. We prayed, we gave it to God- we were out there, singing, playing piano, guitaring, bassing, drumming, fluting, for His name, for His glory. Our band is called Jasper and Carnelian, (NOT Jasper and the Camelian, as the judges presumed...) which are the colours, as described in revelation, around God's throne- and we strove to do what they do: reflect his glory. Maybe that's why the shaking left my hands and we were all able to throw ourselves in and enjoy it with all of our hearts, having SO much fun and really really play the songs we'd been practising for about two months. It was such a heart-warming thing. Such a buzz. It's the feeling you get when you're at the climax of a book, the moment the perfect wave rolls up and breaks beneath you, or when you wake up to hazy golden sunshine. I'm just writing this to encourage you not to let these moments pass by, or oppourtunities fade away- because you're too unprepared, scared, or nervous. We were made to take risks, we were made to display God to the world- and the moment you do (no matter how, where or when) it's Him that's filling your steps with courage.

The final verse of our final song, by a band we all love: Souvenirs-bySwitchfoot.

SUMMERSUMMERSUMMER

Dreamy days.

Past memories rising to the surface.

The heat prickles.

The sun winks.

The evenings stretch out long and lazy.

 It's the anticipation that's biting now.

The ready, set, go of summer.

Toes on the edge of the line.

Bated breath.

When do we begin?

When does it start?

Let me dance in the rape-seed and frolick in the fields

Let the clouds run from the sky

Let the heat hit down dazily

Thick choking pollen

Delightful, buttery, flowers

Grass marks and mud stains

the cheery, fleeting hours

of summetime

It's almost here, it has almost begun,

Now is the time for

Waiting

Wondering

Planning

Dreaming up the days the come.

Where is home?

"This world is where I live, but let it never be called my home."- Jon Foreman.

Failing is hard. Especially when the standards the world sets around us are so increasingly high and so impossibly big. I feel a bit like a little girl sometimes, straining on tiptoes to scathe a far-reaching ceiling- but it's just too high, and brushing it with your fingertips isn't nearly satisfying enough. But it's true isn't it?
The world. It says this: it's about winning. It's about being the best. It's about having the latest. It's about being the biggest, the coolest, the smartest. If your not at the top then you're nothing at all. It's all about the next prommotion, the higher grade, the A*, the bigger house and the larger part.
It's disguised by well meaning phrases that float around like- "It's the taking part the counts." But honestly, who believes that when there's a shiny gold carrot dangled at the end of the stretch? No....the world wants us to keep straining forward. Where else did the TV come from? The Computer, the Aroplane?
And is this a bad thing? Surely all this technology, this discovery, this thought, lead us to where we are now, to improvement?
...
Well sometimes I think Id prefer a little less 'technology' and a little more 'personhood'.
Sure we've filled our world with gadgets, gizmos and flashing lights, but at what cost? Have we crowded out the really important with the luxuries? Where will Patience go, when we can get what we want at the flick of a switch or the push of a button? Has Love been mistaken for lust, Admiration sacraficed for envy, and is Chivalry really dead, or just lying dormant somewhere beneath an oppressive, selfish heat? It is hot isn't it. The world's heating up.

But my real question is this: As christians, where do we fit?
And my discovered answer is: we don't. We indulge in the modern world sometimes, but essentially... we don't belong here. We live here temporarily to fulfill our God-given plan, to tell others about it, to give them the news that: the hope and purpose we rejoice in can be theirs as well! The news that though we are all failures (because we are. We can never meet the standards of the world- ever wondered why that is? Perhaps because we're not meant to? Look at Kate in the picture above, we all shake our hair but she can't because her hair isn't made to. Same principle.) we are considered as precious and perfect through Jesus Christs sacrafice. He died so God could see us without sin. So God could forgive us and take us home to a world where we belong. A world waits that treats the important things with importance, that doesn't forget you, ignore you, put you in a box or oppress you. A world where love is love, truth is truth, yes is yes, God is God.
So let's remember this next time we find ourselves pining after a better hairstyle, brain, or even life: that this world is for us to use to God's purpose, and not our own.

"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."

JOHN 15: 18-19

Reconstruction of Inspiration

This Inspiration Board took some putting back together I can tell you! If it looks a bit busy- it's because it is! I thought I'd post it's journey because that, as well as all the things stuck to it, was quite helpful in spurring on my previously dormant creative juices! It lies in the corridor in my house, and was looking quite doleful for a few weeks, begging me to help restore it to it's former glory. I did. It took a lot of work, a lot of scrounging for pins that fell behind a large and awkwardly placed basket, a lot of patience when things stubbornly fell off- but it was worth it. The result just screams ideas:

- A special style of skirt I would like to make.
- A font to try and mimic
- An emotion to attempt to express
- Something to write a story about (a train ticket/ joy/ cupcake wrappers)
- Some photography ideas...
- A material to experiment with

So if you haven't one already, I'd grab a pin board from somewhere and start pinning! It helps provide inspiration for the moments you're incredibly stuck. (Besides being a great place to shove something when it looks suspiciously too much like clutter to keep, but too pretty to throw away.:)
Good luck!