I’m a tangent person. 

I get so excited about different ideas that my mind often feels like Grand Central Station, with trains leaving and showing up from different tracks all the time. I get inspired about one project then leave it half done or only partially started when I get distracted by the next one. 

Now, if you’ve decided you want to be an artist, at some point you have to finish something. This kind of distraction is NOT productive. So, I sought out some advice on how to focus better.

Remember chasing bubbles as a kid? Or seeing a child chase bubbles on the wind now? Even animals sometimes get in on the game. Or watching snowflakes drift down on the first snowfall of the year? I’m not sure why the first snowfall always seems so magical; maybe because it’s like a drifting down of something new; cleaning the earth of all the harshness of the summer. Leaves drifting through the sky on an autumn day; crisp air and the scent of spice filling the air.

Ever have one of those days when you don’t know where to start? You’ve got a dozen things on your list, and none of them are what you want to be doing right now? 

What is the best first step to take? Are we faced with a decision like Harry is here: should we extract ourselves from the footstool first, or just go straight for the paper towel tube that got us here in the first place? 

It's amazing how simple things become extraordinary if you take the time to look at them differently. I saw the sun's reflection through this glass of water on my countertop one day, and it's beauty stood out. 

Our perception of things changes easily if we allow ourselves to see them in a new light.

So what’s the deal with the bee in your logo?

That’s an excellent question, and I wondered when someone would ask.

No, I don’t sell honey or any products with beeswax in them, although those are some of my favourite things. I LOVE honey! I am a recovering sugar-aholic but what I will allow myself is to have a little honey in my tea or on toast. Raw honey has wonderful health properties other than simply the sugar aspect. But I digress.

Why choose a bee for my artists logo? 

…

OOPS! I found a typo…

Matthew 9:22: “Daughter be encouraged, your faith has made you well.” 

Mark 5:34: “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, your suffering is over.”  

Luke 8:48: “Daughter, he said to her, “Your faith has made you well, go in peace.” 

Three gospels report the same event. The woman who had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding, going to doctor after doctor, giving all the money she had and still not getting better; an outcast, considered unclean in her community. She braved it all when she heard about Jesus. She did not waiver or think “maybe I can ask him” or “maybe he’ll consider healing me” or “it’s hopeless, why bother trying?” which I'm sure she had considered several times through the years.

n these verses, it’s not human healing that is happening, but Jesus’ ability to heal or calm nature. After the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and all the healing that Jesus had done, he and the disciples got into a boat to cross to the other side of the lake. Jesus rested and went to sleep, which is completely understandable because Jesus’ body was human, and all human bodies get tired. The storm didn’t rest. Although most of the disciples were seasoned fishermen, they were afraid. That says to me that this was no ordinary storm.

What they did have with them now that they never had before, was Jesus. Yet still, they feared.

There’s a short version and a long version to that questions, this is the short(ish) version  (we’ve all got things to do today!) 

In 2018 I decided to become the artist I always wanted to be, but couldn’t decide what area to focus on. Pottery was my main hobby for over ten years, so seemed the natural choice, although there were other options (quilting, painting, drawing, sewing, embroidery, crochet etc.) But I overlooked writing. I wrote stories and poems since childhood, loved ‘painting with words,’ crafting them into sentences that inspired or evoked emotions, and gave instructions or directions. Why not writing?? Doubt got in the way. “Who would want to read what I wrote?”

I arranged this book differently than my first book, 30 Days of Joy: A Devotional. I’ve arranged this one by topic, gathering similar testimonies from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John so that we can compare them closer to each other. It’s surprising how such similar stories inspired similar but different devotionals. Over the next few blog entries, I’ll provide a few samples. Let me know what you think! (Please remember, “if you don’t have anything nice to say…” constructive criticism is always welcome, but negativity for the sake of negativity will be removed.)

“For the joy of the Lord is your strength.” I love that line. Not ‘the rules,’ ‘the anger,’ ‘the judgement,’ but “the JOY of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah was talking about celebration. This is just after the Israelites returned from captivity in Babylon and had rebuilt the city walls, and Ezra read to them from the book of the Law of Moses. People were sad, but he instructed people to celebrate, to share with others this sacred day. “Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

How easy do you find it to be full of joy on a regular basis? Me too. It is not always easy. Things may be going well, we have a good start to the day, then we spill our coffee or tea. ‘Not a problem, I’ll just clean that up.’ And then there’s not a cloth around or you are out of paper towels. You manage to get that sorted, then your car tire is low, so you have to stop by the gas station to put air in it. The machine only takes quarters, and you’ve only got bills. Sigh. We’ve all had those sorts of days.