i spent sunday & monday back home with several of my closest, dearest family-friends, and was reminded that my value and hope are sure and grounded in my God and His gifts, not what those outside of Him value.
sunday afternoon i spent with manda, catching up on old friends & coworkers, and hearing about where god is taking her heart as it relates to social justice in india.
sunday night i spent in the joy, laughter, kindness & honesty of 3 of my dearest friends, some of the godliest, funniest women i know :) what a blast to reconnect and hear each others' experiences and plans, and encourage each other as we chase after 4 very different dreams.
monday afternoon i spent with lori & grandma, and here i find healing & kindness & joy & rock solid certainty in god's goodness & provision, even in the face of hardship & uncertainty. i found myself often thinking of my friends at work and longing for a way to communicate the peace & joy & comfort we share together as friends and family, and hurting that my words are inadequate because they have no frame of reference, or even appreciation, for this kind of gentleness & acceptance. i am humbled & healed by the gift of their love & protection.
monday night was dinner with carl & lori, and the opportunity to share some of the fruits of last semester's challenging 2D work, and to hear of god's work & provision in their lives & at 1st baptist. more love & laughter & news & fellowship, and the undeniable presence of god's spirit in a sheltered place.
for those keeping track, i have now started my 3rd semester of art school @ herron. i have completed 4 classes, hold a 4.0 gpa, and this semester have switched to a straight 2nd shift at work, which allows me to take 3 classes this semester: art history 2, metalsmithing & jewelry design 2, and beginning wheelthrowing (ceramics not discus :).
i love art history, especially thursday's class on the early renaissance, when my prof (not a believer) so clearly explained the christian symbolism in some of the 15th century flemish works, and went into raptures over van eyck's depiction of christ on his throne in the ghent altarpiece. i will be blogging more on this later, because i love the implications of the humanist emphasis in this time period, in contrast to the dichotomy of secular/spiritual in medieval art.
i do not yet love wheelthrowing. please believe me when i say playdough is soft, pottery clay is very, very stiff - it is not a complement when god states he is the potter and we are the clay! it takes muscle, coordination, determination, and no small amount of skill to throw a pot on a wheel, and after 3 classes, i am not happy w/ my progress. i daresay god has similar observations about me, and that thought keeps me working both at my pottery and my life.
i love, love, love metalsmithing...now if only i could find some connection to ministry... this semester i will be producing a piece of flatware, eyeware, and a mirror. my ideas for the flatware are already heavily influenced by the experiences of my friends jeff & ade, who just moved to india with their kids - they eat with their hands a rice & tortilla curry soup, the same thing everyday. if you are not familiar with their journey, please, please, please read ade's blog linked on this page - i hope you will not be the same after glimpsing their world. i also have some ideas for the eyeware, based on the types of "lenses" we view our world thru'. i haven't tho't too far on the mirror, but i hope to continue working out my experience of god & his work in each of these pieces, and will keep you posted on what he is teaching me.
thanks for listening.
