A command.

"Be still, and know that I am God..." Psalm 46:10

If you're like me (which you are), then you're work oriented. You tend to either view this verse as a command that must be followed, or you view it as an excuse to make guilt free quiet time while the dishes and laundry pile up. Tonight B is out, and it's just me and Ari at home, so I took some quiet time to reflect, read, and write. This is an excerpt taken from my notebook:

"I feel like I finally started paying attention more when I became a mom. I don't even want to take my eyes off the yellow-white light flickering through the papery tree leaves long enough to write this.

I guess I want to redeem every fleeting second I have with Ari. I want to remember every facial expression, memorize each movement of his eye brows, each new sound he delights in making. I feel like I want to immortalize each moment I spend with him.

I remember reading some trascendentalist in college who talked about seeing the world the way Adam did, everything captivating and so new for the very first time. I watch Ari look at the world that way amd it fills me with longing. It's almost like he sees the shards of perfection left in the world from the Fall. He's still amazed by the aspen's leaves in our yard each time we come out here. For two years now I've acted like this thing doesn't even exist anymore. That's how little I pay attention to it.

Seeing the way my little boy is exploring the world for the very first time gives me a desire to look at it with renewed eyes. Ari sees the genius of the Creator of the different textures of leaves, the very Creator who I seem to have forgotten about."

"It is my own believe (and here I shall not feel bad if no one follows me) that every good and beautiful thing which man has produced in the world has been the result of his faulty and sin-blocked response to the creative Voice sounding over the earth. The moral philosophers who dreamed their high dreams of virtue, the religious thinkers who speculated about God and immortality, the poets and artists who created out of common stuff pure and lasting beauty: How can we explain them? It is not enough to say simply, 'It was genius.'

What then is genius? Could it be that a genius is a man haunted by the speaking Voice, laboring and striving like one possessed to achieve ends which he only vaguely understands? "

-A.W. Tozer in 'The Pursuit of God' (pgs 74-5)

 It's a heavenly perspective that gives us a greater appreciation for any creation or art.

Maybe Ari is still young enough, "sheltered" enough, or set apart from the world in such a way that he's being allowed time to cultivate this heavenly perspective. I don't know what it is, but almost every single time I pluck up any energy to pursue creative writing and cultivating inspiration for creating I get sucked into this thought that it's all vanity. That immediately kills any creative juices I got flowing.

After a quick conversation with a fellow artist this evening, I was reminded that it's actually selfish to not put time and effort into cultivating creativity so I have something to share with others. I totally view writing, music, art, and any other medium as creative gifts given straight from God. If that's the case, then it's my job to cultivate that gift in such a way that builds others up. I'd really be bummed today if I didn't have all the books C.S. Lewis wrote on my shelves because he put down the pen after hearing, "It's all vanity!" whispered in his ear. I know of a few people off the top of my head that wouldn't be Christians if he had never picked up a pen! How crazy is that!? It's heavy, actually. It means my words can actually make an impact for the Kingdom. Heavy stuff.

And with those thoughts, I post this piece in faith that God is using this blog to speak to someone tonight.

xoxo

P.S. I find it helpful to find out what another writer or artist has been reading, watching, eating, listening to, etc to be creatively filled up, so I think I'll start sharing that with you guys. Tonight I was thumbing through an old favorite on art and faith, Walking on Water, as well as The Pursuit of God, which I can honestly say is one of the most challenging books I have ever read. And I read lots of books.

On the menu for this evening: whole wheat crackers, provolone cheese, and homemade nutter butters. Happy snacking and writing! ;)


  

On my Bookshelf: Part 1

As I'm getting ready for our workshop tonight, I wanted to share some books to get your creative juices going. Most of these I have read, a few I haven't, but have for specific creative reasons (which I will explain). I also wanted to share to show you that there are many books out there that people may not view as creative, but really almost any book can get "creative" juices going (either because you agree or disagree with what it's saying, giving you something to write about). I spent many times in college worshiping Jesus through reading textbooks about child psychology or boring early American literature, while getting my thoughts going.

These are a few of the books I'm choosing to take tonight. We are going to do a little "First we read, then we write" activity. We'll each pick a book and read through it for about 10 minutes, taking down any notes, creative thoughts, or ideas that are sparked while reading. Then we'll provide time to expand on one thought. First, they're picking a book to read, then they're writing about whatever the heck came to mind while writing. (Yes, this is totally a preview to any of you guys that are coming tonight!! ;) )

So, from top to bottom:

The Christian's Secrets of a Happy Life : This is one I haven't read. I have it because I often turn to my best friend's mom for suggestions on creative books when my creative well is dry. (She writes like me, only much more seriously at this point than I do! GO JEN!) This is one of the books she told me to grab over a year ago when I was in college and trying to figure out what my life as a Christian writer/artist of any kind looked like, and if that was even what God was calling me to. I plan on getting around to it eventually. I've also heard the title is much cheesier sounding than the book itself.

A Poetry Handbook : This was one of the two "textbooks" required when I took my poetry class last Spring. Very simple straight forward book on all the how-to's about poetry. Anyone who doesn't know a thing about poetry could pick this up and learn. I am a truly tone-deaf poet. I couldn't scan a line of poetry to save my life, but this book was very helpful on teaching me to use other sound devices in poetry to keep a beat going. Also, I love Mary Oliver's poetry! I'm not too big into many poets that are still living (I mean, who is? ;) It's cooler to read their stuff once they've died. Ha!), but on our last weekend trip to SLC I picked up her poetry book, A Thousand Mornings, and was really in love with it! I also follow her on twitter (haha) and  really enjoy reading one liners from her poems every now and then.

How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One: This was the other "textbook" required for my upper division poetry class. I guess you could say this is more for the grammarian, which was helpful for me because I'm not too much of a grammarian. I'm a creative writer, not a technical writer, but I need grammar to polish up any creative writing, so this was a good one for those sort of things!

About Time : This is one of my nerdier books, but it just goes to show you how science can help in the area of creativity! I can't actually remember if I've read it, but I believe I've scanned it. For a while there I was really in to studying the theory of time because of a poem I was writing. I was amazed at the idea that time is slower (or faster? I don't remember now) the more you travel away from the earth. See, I may even have this wrong, but the whole idea of that being possible is so fascinating to me! So I got this book to help me understand it, and hopefully help add to my poetry writing. Research totally helps add meat to your writing!

The Prayers of Kierkagaard : For my notebooks and journaling class, I had to pick an artist's notebook to read and present on. I was going to do this one, but somebody else in the class got to it before I did. (I ended up presenting on Pascal's Pensees another great Christian artist, writer, inventor who I think I get to teach on a bit in this semester's School of Worship! woohoo) Even though this is debated, Kierkegaard is regarded as a Christian in some circles, but he was also dabbling into Existentialism (I wish my hubby was home so I could confirm that). Either way, his book of prayers is esentially just like my prayer journal that I (try) to write in every morning, but it's so cool to look into the heart of another artist calling on God to infuse their art! So, so cool!

Alright, well that's lots of books to chew on for now. I'll share more in the future (literally, shelves and shelves more), as I really enjoy the sharing of books that influence creativity in people's lives. Any suggestions out there? :) I hope you guys can stop by the library this weekend and pick something up! :) Remember, there is always, always, always something inspiring in God's Word too! Psalm 45:1 says, "My heart overflows with a pleasing theme; I address my verses to the king; my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe." I love, love, love this verse and bring it up lots in the workshop because it just reminds me of the endless themes we have in God's Word to write about and meditate on for creativity. You could never exhaust any numbers of pens or pages just exploring the topic of God's grace towards us, and that's just ONE of thousands and thousands of topics. Anyways, so always remember to go to God's Word first for creative inspiration! Ask the Holy Spirit, and He will inspire!

xoxo

Commonplacing & Nonsense Writing Part 1: The Commonplace

There is a tiny writer in me that comes out every once in a while, either against my will, or with much kicking and screaming involved. I know, those two are total opposites and don't make sense together, but it's just what happens. It's the love hate relationship of any writer. (And by the way, I don't be any means claim to be a grammarian, but a tiny writer, so if you find misplaced commas or sentences that don't make sense, just know I'm not losing sleep over it. haha)

Anyways, with my creative workshops starting up again soon, and the School of Worship Arts that starts this next week, I wanted to set aside some time to be creative and write. And since I've made several comments about commonplace books and nonsense writing, I thought I'd share with you this time.

"First we read, then we write." -Emerson

This is a book, quote, and philosophy of writing that I hold to. The simple idea is that any reading we do in magazines, dictionaries, letters, fictional stories, theological books, the Bible, or anything at all, we can react to with our experinces and thoughts, resulting in our own notes. Little notes taken in the side margins of books or any body of writing is called marginalia. That's where I got the name for this blog: my notes in the margins of life, from a (hopefully) renewed mindset. You can pick up almost any book on our many bookshelves and know immediately if I've read it or not by scanning through the pages and looking for notes in the margins. If there are none, than the book has probably never been read by me. haha This is why I don't like borrowing books from people or the library because I can't seem to the break the habit of sprawling ink all over their pages.

The first book I ever remember annotating (taking notes in) was C.S. Lewis' Till We Have Faces. The storyline in this book follows a lot of the book of Matthew from the Bible, so I couldn't help but continually make connections between the plot and characters.

In the above picture you can see my little notebook on top of the bigger one. These are called commonplace books, and many thinkers (great or not-so-great, depending on your opinion) used them to record thoughts, and later organize them into larger bodies of work. Some of these people include Jonathan Edwards, D.L. Moody, Emerson, Pascal, and many, many others. Honestly, most artists or writers of any kind that you look in to probably have a commonplace of some sort. Go pick one up today and start practicing. When I started my creative workshop I brought one for each person in the class to begin using that day.

Things to include in your commonplace:

- grocery lists
- quotes to remember
- thoughts and reactions to things you're reading, movies you're watching, conversations you're having
- creative writing ideas (many of my poems have started as one liners in my commonplace)
- books, essays, or poems to remember to find and read
- phone numbers or addresses to remember
- recipes
- Bible verses
- things God is personally revealing to you
- notes from meetings, sermons, Bible study groups
- interviews (I write articles on the side for various magazines, so this has been helpful)

For the most part, my commonplace is full of my own thoughts and reactions to things, but these are some other ideas to include to help you get started. Here are a few notes quickly taken in my commonplace:

3/22: "'Being an artist is not a higher calling than being a Christian.' I need to remember this!"

3/23: "The person God wants me to be is so much more Christ-like and better than the person I want to be. The person He wants me to be will accomplish so much more than the person I want to be can."

4/2: "'Odd how the creative power at once brings the whole universe to order.' -V Woolf Reminds me of God creating and bringing the world into creation and order."

10/15: "'Ideas carried out stimulate more ideas.' -The Hidden Art of Homemaking (WOMEN: READ IT) by Schaeffer pg. 49" (I always include page numbers for quick reference if I ever, and often do, include quotes in bigger pieces of writing.)

Whatever your art, photography, writing, painting, gardening, stay-at-home-mom and homemaker, keeping a commonplace will help out your creative process!

In my next post I'll go over what nonsense writing is, and what mine looks like.

Happy reading and writing!!