The Inside Out

Ok I know that a lot of the time we make these big announcement of attitude adjustments that we are “absolutely going to stick by”…and then about a week later they are forgotten. Do you do this? ’Cause I know I do. But this time I waited a full week to postpone my proclamation so maybe that means it’s gonna’ stick (actually one of my good friends, Pastor Jimmy, said it takes something like 28 days to make something a habit so maybe its still a bit premature…but its not really something huge…so we will see!).

Basically it comes down to this: I HATE LAUNDRY. Not just the washin’. Not just the the foldin’. But the puttin’ away almost kills me! So I did what any person who lives to paint something does and completely re-did my laundry room! Logical right? Ok not so much…if the look on my husbands face when he walked in to see the ginormous holes in the wall that I made tearing down the old shelves is any indication – not logical at all!! But a little olive wall paint, a lot of spackle and a quote from “2 peas in a bucket” later and whalla:

If it’s hard to read it says: :I am THANKFUL for my LAUNDRY because it means my FAMILY is close by. I added some nicer shelves on the wall and completely reorganized the little closet with some super cool shelves my Daddy made for me (“thank you Daddy!!!”). All the storage room I made in the closet made it possible to store all the junk I used to think I had to have out of sight! But it also made me toss a ton of stuff I will never need again! AND my kids shoes and book bags are all stored NEATLY in there! But the biggest advantage is I have actually kept up with my laundry for a week! Nothing smelly waiting on me in the washer. No folding yelling at me from the dryer and (almost) all the clothes in the closets they belong! I am super psyched!

One last thing that has seemed to help my terrible attitude about the little room off my garage are the pictures of our compassion children on the shelf. These are the family members who I wish I could wash their clothes each and every day. That little reminder was worth time and effort.

I learned the most interesting and yet disturbing storyabout Vincent Van Gogh while I was reading Thriving as an Artist in the Churchby Rory Noland last night. (So far a very good read but I just picked it up yesterday!) It turns out that Van Gogh wanted to follow in his fathers footsteps and be a pastor. He even had a short stay trying to be one in Belgium but because he was not a good preacher he was let go about 6 months later (even though it was stated that the men who fired him thought he took very good care of his flock). Van Gogh painted the people this small, poor town with amazing expression and insight into the way they were living. After being let go as a pastor he continued to paint but eventually fell into financial ruin and poverty. He never set foot in a church again. Because he was more creative in artistic ways and not in ways of public speaking, he was judged and walked away from the church. It’s pitiful that Christians can be the cause for others to walk away from church, and its obviously been gong on for years upon years. It’s hard enough to be a creatively oriented person (as in you see everything in ways it could be better, or a different color that would make people feel different, or a visual design that would make a story or message make more sense, or even just hearing the perfect song to go with that message…) but when you’re criticized for it it’s darn near impossible to be yourself. Christians should be the last people on earth that make people feel that way. Look at God…Seriously, who is more creative than Him? not even focusing on the obvious of creation, think about how many people He uses for His purposes, and how many situations He solves in ways not even imagine-able to us. In some ways I think that the forgotten characteristic of God is His creativity and passion for it. He is always doing something new (I am about to do a new thing, will you even see it?) and different and so many times we miss it or don’t even give it credit. He is still creative and still creatively using each and everyone of us.

Just a side note of something I never noticed before but in Van Gogh’s most famous painting Starry Night the only building without a light on is the church. How sad that he wasn’t ever able to let that go. But it is said that Van Gogh always said the presence of God was symbolized in the evening sky and that painting definitely depicts a creative God in that beautiful night sky.