On "Doing What You Love"

The same blurred photo as last week's post, can lead to the creating of very different and striking digital art than shown in the earlier set.

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ON "DOING WHAT YOU LOVE"

There’s so much blogging advice these days on “doing what you love.”  Take risks, dare to break out of the mold of the ordinary.  Stop being so afraid of failure that you don’t even try to reach your dreams.  Live beyond the confines of a quiet, safe, boring-but-maybe-secure life.

The importance of “living a meaningful story in life” may mean quitting a secure job to try out some secret longing with unknown financial rewards.  Or it might be keeping a full time job but adding many extra hours of side-projects.  So often, admonitions tend towards getting up earlier in the morning, or squeezing in extra hours that might be otherwise considered wasted.  But the writers of these, succeeded in fulfilling their passions.  They were strong enough, persistent enough, disciplined enough, and entrepeneurial enough to work more hours and earn enough money to live on while “doing what they love”, which often turns out to be to follow the muse of art, writing, music, or a higher college degree.

It sounds to me more like self-effort when the advice is –“Dare to become all that God created you to be”, or, “don’t settle for mediocre when you can do great things”.  Some of us (including myself), are unable to attain more strength and prowess by using up more hours and more strenuous activities.  The list includes the tired mother of an infant, the man whose education wasn’t complete, the one whose mind is incomplete, the person who ages before their time, or lives with chronic illness or in abject poverty – and many other people.  It’s not necessarily because they’re unwilling to risk or afraid of failure, but that they lack the strength to “do more and more.”

I yearn to write lots of books, and work on wonderful paintings.  I ache to build relationships in “community”.  Oh, I had so many dreams for a creative life.  I wanted to go deep in my walk with God and willingly help others.  But the circumstances of my life have all too often interrupted the way of life I’d hoped to live.  So I’m choosing not to write books.  But I do hope to respond occasionally to the cries of others.  For the sake of my limited health, I do the simpler art of operating a graphics program when I’d rather be making masterpieces with oils on canvas, and teaching others to do the same.

As for me realizing a goal of “becoming all God created me to be”, well, fortunately God is far bigger than my feeble self-effort.  And he’s quite capable of making me all he intended for me to be, all on his own.  I thank him and praise him that I’m still alive, still willing to learn, and still choosing to be hopeful (though I don’t always succeed at this).  

When He greets me as I get to heaven, is he going to ask me if I “created a meaningful story” to add to HIS story?  I don’t think so.  But I do hope he’ll say, “Blessings on you for making an effort to look to Me in spite of every obstacle you’ve endured.  I’ve been your Savior, Helper, Friend, Guide, Comforter, and more.  Enter into My rest.”   And resting in Him, will certainly be “Doing What I Love.”

images and text (c) 2013 by Marilee Miller

This post is shared with Laura Boggess

Makeover

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A melange of objects, photographed just to have a base from which to “play” creatively with my graphics program.  The photo failed.  Blurry.  No matter – there’s just as much chance for an arty makeover.

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I come to God bringing my melange of various traits and habits.  I feel a bit like a blurred photo.  But no matter!  God is in the process of giving me a makeover.  I can be full of bright colors and amazing patterns.  I am unique, and stunning, in His sight.  I’m a work in progress.  But one day, I hope to become who He is shaping and coloring me to be.

This post is shared with Laura Boggess

Background Colors

Commenters on my last week’s blog post asked how I created the colorful backgrounds I used with my Scripture texts.  So here is a look-see at how I cropped and re-colored an image in Photoshop.

The view above, like the original photo (the latter seems to have been erased), had a blurred bunny figurine sitting on a countertop  – only in the image I used, the bunny was turned sideways, with just the top part showing.

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(example, from another blurred bunny pose).  Lower marks show approximate bottom edge of original image; the top marks indicate where I cropped off the ears.

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A side-project.  The bunny remnants digitally transformed into a rock.  This frame can become a desert landscape or have other additions to play with later.

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 Pieces of background, moved over the rock, with countertop area expanded, to create an interesting all-over pattern.  (Also a cropped and zoomed version emphasizing color and texture.)

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Color-changing with Photoshop filters.




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 I’m so glad God never tires of changing my patterns and colors and reworking the stranger parts of me!
(Oh yes, for another project, I also changed the colors and shaping of the coiled telephone cord from the first photo.) 



This post is shared with Laura Boggess, "Playdates with God"

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Ephesians 3:16

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A nondescript photo of a gray sky evolves into a series of colorful backgrounds when tweaked in a graphics program.  And, oh, this Scripture verse is a sumptuous feast!
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“May He grant out of the rich treasury of his glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Ghost [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality."
                                                     (Eph 3:16  the Amplified Bible)

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This verse – it takes my breath away.  I can say I accept it as true.  But my mind staggers to grasp the depths of the idea.  What does it mean,  that God himself indwells my inner being, my personality! 

Ah, how do I surrender to Him in such a way that my heart KNOWS unwaveringly that His mighty, Holy Spirit power is strengthening and reinforcing me?  Reinforcing me -- even amidst my struggles and hard days?  Oh, my.  That’s exactly what I need.  My heart doesn’t know how to “FEEL” that!  I can only cry out to him for mercy.  How I plead for more, more of Jesus Christ.

And while I’m waiting for the knowledge of his infusion to mold sweet patterns within me, I can make artworks as a fitting worship unto him.  Just as I can use a graphics program to express my imagination by bringing out bright colors, he’s going to turn the gray skies of my inner life into bright banners testifying of his unfailing love and provision.

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This post is shared with "Seedlings in Stone" and
"Playdates with God"







Do you plead for more, more of Jesus Christ?  What expressions or activities do you employ to worship him, and keep yourself reminded of his glory?  "[Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality.]"  Does this add to your understanding of God in your life?

My Collage/ God's Collage

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My Collage/God’s Collage


Last week’s post showed photos of a ceramic donkey, which I then isolated from their backgrounds using a graphics program.

This little critter, just 4 inches high to the tip of the ears, is a family heirloom.  If my remembrance is correct (and there’s no one left to ask), it was fashioned by an uncle of mine whom I met in person for only about an hour in real life – and that was LONG ago.  By now the donkey might be 80 years old – or even older.  His ears have been glued back in place a couple of times.  But his bright, shiny colors are as vivid as ever.

I incorporated computer printouts of the donkey into a collage.  A collage, by its very definition, is an assembly of elements from unrelated sources, fastened or glued together to form a finished picture. 

The backing sheet was a glossy-paper advertising flyer that came folded in with a newspaper.  The yellow paper is an opened-out business mail envelope.  Cuttings of clouds emerged from the white paper around the printouts of the donkeys.  The grass is recycled blue painter’s tape that I’d used to anchor a paper I was coating with white housepaint, which will become the backdrop for another artwork.  Marking pens added the red lines, and the blue around the clouds. 

Individual, unrelated parts have been brought together to make a unique (or quirky?) design.

In the same way, God always remembers exactly who I am and who he wants me to become.  And he’s putting together pieces from many seemingly-unrelated sources.  I trust that he’s fashioning me into a surprisingly wonderful design that only he can imagine. 

“Long ago, before he made the world, God chose us to be his very own, through what Christ would do for me; he decided then to make me holy in his sight – without a single fault – we who stand before him covered with his love.”  (Eph 1: 4 TLB)
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This post is shared with "Seedlings in Stone" and
"Playdates with God"





It would be a joy to me to find my inbox filled with your comments.  You are blessed, and loved, today.

God Has Designs on Me

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God Has Designs on Me

CD disks are shiny silver.  Reflective of the light or atmosphere around them.  Most people simply throw them away when they’re no longer needed for their computer data.  However, surely something so beautiful cries out to be used in some way – perhaps gathered into an art-design.   Bottlecaps are ubiquitous, but more than that – they are fashioned wonderfully.   Often made from inexpensive materials.  Many are tossed out after being used to protect the contents inside bottles or jars.  But their roundness, and sometimes ridgy modeled edges, may also contribute to the elements for design.

God sees the shiny silver places in us, even at times when we don’t think we have – or ARE – anything of lasting value.  He knows that we, capable of reflecting his light, can remain both useful and beautiful.  He sees the circling parts of us that we disdain as not being worth much.   And then declares that we are “Accepted in the Beloved”, and “Adopted into God’s own family.”

The Lord may also re-color my habits, and traits until they’re most pleasing to him.  Or maybe he’ll emphasize certain lines or character to bring out a whole new aspect of my life‘s design.

How incredible it seems, that the high God who created the spectacular universe also sees me, in Christ, as beautiful, wonderful.  If I turn to him and trust his Word, he says he’s given me his robe of righteousness.  He “joys over me with singing.”  “We are gifts of God that he delights in.”

I’m so thankful that God Has Designs on Me!

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Feel free to link to this post but please no copying of images or text for public dissemination without permission.

This post is shared with L.L. Barkat  "Seedlings in Stone" and Laura Boggess' "Playdates with God"

A Face of Beauty

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A FACE OF BEAUTY

A face of beauty,
Gentle doll head,
Softened features,
Smooth and refined.
Elegant face,
With lips sweetly defined.

I’ve draped her
With exotic fabric:
Elegant scarf sublime.
Ah, to think this doll,
With head of sweet beauty,
Is mine, all mine!

The invisible God,
Mighty, but whom we can’t see,
Has made a face of visible beauty
Extending all over our Earth.
Oh, hasn’t he been kind?
And he created humans
To sweetly create
Elegances to touch our mind.

Thank you Lord, for a doll
With a face of beauty, and
For my own sweetly softened features
When I contemplate this little elegance, prime.
My heart swells: I appreciate
The God who invented us all,
And made us co-creators of beauty.
“Surely the presence of God is in this place.”
And I’m washed clean in worship of him, the Divine.

( c) 2012 by Marilee Miller


This post is also shared with L.L. Barkat’s
“Seedlings in Stone" and Laura Boggess’
“Playdates with God."

 

Seeing Things Differently

"Over the Sea 21" - Randall David Tipton   used by permission

overlay, old man outline, by M. Miller

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Seeing Things Differently

Not long ago, professional artist Randall David Tipton posted a painting on his website titled, “Over the Sea 21”.  The cotton candy pink cloud looks scrumptious.  But beyond that, a tiny, shiny white spot within the cloud reminded me of a star shining through the cloud.  My attention was captured.  Suddenly, the white dot became an eye, and hmmm, there was a thin “eyebrow” (in slight change of color) above that.  And then, of course, the nose was unmistakable to me. 

And there, the whimsical face/head of an old man----.

(I’ve outlined him that you might better share my view.) 

I like to think of him as the “essence” of the cloud, or a cloud-spirit (or sprite?) of some sort.  As children, we looked to find images in clouds.  Well, here was one not only discovered, but in my mind, seeing a further image in a pink cloud added to my enjoyment of the painting.

I asked Tipton if he meant to put a man in the cloud.  “No no old men placed in my clouds or anything else,“ he replied.

But you know how it is with an optical illusion?  You don’t see it, and then you do!  After seeing that illusion, I can’t “not” see it – though Tipton didn’t place it there intentionally.

Just as sharing our different perceptions about lovely paintings can open up new pleasures to many, so also may collaborative insight add to our ability to solve problems, tackle work that needs doing, or cope with new patterns that show up in our lives or in the wider society.

Aren’t we lucky that artists’ imaginations see things differently?  And that people with differing visions may enhance their (or our) fruitfulness or understanding?  In such a case, artworks – or life -- can be true serendipities.

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artist's website    http://randalldavidtipton.blogspot.com


This post is shared with L. L. Barkat and Laura Boggess.  

FULFILLMENT

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FULFILLMENT

So many dreadful things are happening in this poor, tired world;
Many lives are being turned upside-down.
Constant bad news is enough to make us fearful creatures,
Unsure whether we can survive,
Even when we try to believe God knows what he’s doing,
That he “knows our frame is dust”
Yet we can’t seem to help our timidity,
But must only keep permitting him to be the fulfillment of Christ within us.
To remember that he counts our hours and our days.

The transparent bottle, before, held dishwashing soap;
The first two rinses were myriads of tiny crowded bubbles,
But the third rinse created a few large and sparkly cells,
Also a crown-like medallion of wonder.
Ephemeral, fleeting soap bubbles
Gleaming in the midst of wearying kitchen choring;
Lustrous designs influenced by the shape of the bottle.

My heart soars again,
My trust of God rebounds no end!
If his natural laws for this Earth
Can bring forth beauty out of nothing-much,
Then let me no more be a fearful creature,
But instead believe that I/we will survive
And live forever with the Lord;
He promised! We are influenced by the shape of his clear Bottle.
His love gently holds our human fragile vessels,
To bring forth the beauty of Christ-in-you-and-me.
Let me have faith that God really does know the perfect way
To transform the wide world, and you, and me!

Copyright 2011 by Marilee Miller


This post is shared with L. L. Barkat's
On, In, and Around Mondays


And with Laura Boggess'
Playdates with God