Tuesday, April 29, 2014

The [un]Familiar

Familiar surroundings are often overlooked, especially the places we call home.  We pass through familiar rooms every day, but are rarely aware, I mean really aware of the everyday objects that exist around us.
 
I like to think of my apartment as a cozy little nest where I hoard all my treasures and trinkets -- things I've collected and salvaged and rescued from roadside trash pick ups.  (Yes I am one of those people who sees something shiny in the dumpster and doesn't think twice about retrieving it no matter who may be watching.)
 
Anyways, as time goes by we become desensitized to our environments.  But the longer you stare at something - or say something - it becomes less familiar, more exotic, and more exciting.  It's like when you say a word over and over again (I always think of the word 'grape'...grape...grape......grape..........)  I start questioning myself if 'grape' was ever a part of the English language in the first place.  In this same way we can desensitize ourselves to our common spaces and become reacquainted with the unfamiliar. 
 
Below is my own "desensitizing" project with my own teeny tiny apartment. 
 
 W E L C O M E.    













 

 "It is the function of art to renew our perception.   What we are familiar with we cease to see.  The writer  shakes up the  familiar scene, and, as if by magic, we  see  a new meaning in it."  
 
 Anais Nin  
 
 


Monday, April 21, 2014

Hometown Heart


So this past week I did a speech in my public speaking class (a speech in public speaking class...waaaah?) on my hometown on Grand Haven.  Now I only spent the first eight years of my life there, but it's somewhere I've always considered to be my hometown at heart.  Anyways, when digging out memories and rummaging through old pictures, I got a little homesick.  So I thought I'd share a little bit about why I love this place so much.






 
 
This is where it all began:  12827 120th Ave (I still remember the address because of a jingle we made up in kindergarten when we had to memorize our address and phone number...which was 847-1528 in case you were wondering).  Please note the presence of garland, though it is clearly Spring...my family has always struggled to take down our Christmas decorations in a timely manner.  And you can't really see the whole house, as it was built into a hill.  I promise you we weren't all sharing one mattress in the middle of the living room.

We lived out in the middle of nowhere, but I loved it that that way.  We had a huge pond where we would swim in the summertime.  Raspberry bushes and apple trees were scattered throughout our yard.  Our next door neighbor was an abandoned Christmas tree farm (which I wouldn't mind having again after finding out how expensive Christmas trees are). 

Anyways, I loved our little log cabin.

What most people love about Grand Haven would of course be the beaches.




 
Ah, the beaches.  We would sometimes escape from our wilderness of solitude and come here (only after I said goodbye to my best friend...who was a tree...) We would often spend the whole day swimming/trying not to get sucked into the under toe and would end up here at the end of the day.




 
Dairy Treat.  The love of my childhood heart.  It was also conveniently located right next to my dentist.
 
So that's my random little post about the place I grew up.
Where do you consider your hometown at heart?
 
Happy reminiscing,








Monday, April 14, 2014

How I Start My Day and Why




I am not a morning person.  I'm not really a night person either, now that I think of it...I suppose any time around when I'm supposed to be sleeping is not my happy place.  So why do I wake up every morning* a few minutes before I absolutely have to get up for the day?  (*Okay, not every morning...I'm not perfect.)




Am I the only one who now can't get that Sunday school song of this verse out of my head?
Anyways, when I get up and immediately give the day to God, I am launched into a whole new mindset.  After dedicating my day to Him, I often ask for strength, motivation, direction, and most importantly, opportunities to show the people that I encounter who God is through my words and my actions.  I may jot down a two sentence prayer in my journal before wiping the drool of my face and rolling out of bed, yet still I am reminded of the higher purpose God has placed before me, and I am preparing my heart to take up my cross and step up to the plate.

I challenge you to get up with God today and see what happens. 







Tuesday, April 8, 2014

A Self Portrait


This semester I took a black and white film photography class.  One of the assignments we had to do involved taking a self portrait of ourselves.  My professor said we could be creative with it - that a "self portrait" didn't necessarily have to be a portrait of our faces.  I was relieved.  I've never exactly been a lover of my face (it's hit or miss).  My skin is nowhere near perfect.  My cheeks are chubby.  My eyes get all squinty when I smile, and I've always thought my lips to be oddly shaped...And that's just my face.  So as I was brainstorming ideas of things to hide behind in my self portraits, I stumbled upon the idea of cutting out parts of model's facial features from magazines and using them to cover my own face.  I was tickled by this stroke of genius, and proceeded to find some magazines, cut out parts of model's faces, tape said parts to my face, take the pictures, develop the film, and slave over the prints in the dark room  (needless to say, film photography is a lot of blood, sweat, and tears...literally.  I got a paper cut while I was doing this assignment).

As I was reviewing the final product (which is the image you see above), a thought struck me:  Is this how God sees us when we change our appearance?  I mean, usually we just wish we looked different, but obviously some people take action and get plastic surgery; some even go to the extremes of bleaching their skin.  Is this how God sees us, His creation, when we long to be different from how He created us to be?
 
"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well."
 
{Psalm 139: 14-15}
 
If I truly believed this verse, I might worry less about covering up my imperfections and embrace them instead, because the Creator of the universe took some time out of His schedule from the time I was a twinkle in my parent's eyes to the day of my birth to knit me together.  The Lord picked my eyes, my nose, my lips, and constructed me, His masterpiece.  Picturing that image in my head, I want nothing more than to be exactly how He created me to be.  
 
Thus, a challenge for you.  I challenge you today, (and every day after this one), that each time you catch your reflection to remind yourself that you were constructed by the same God that called the world into being, and you are wonderful.  Because you are fearfully and wonderfully made.
 
 
 
Stay fearful and wonderful, my friends,