Feeding The Lake

photo by jennysweedler

The "Feeding the Lake" philosophy is why I named my blog "everybody gets prizes"...

Madeleine L'Engle in her book, Walking on Water- reflections on faith and art, made me realize something about myself as a writer and an artist, that has given me new perspective and fresh ideas.

Humanity is like a large mass of creative energy that longs to express itself in many diverse ways. As we begin to set our impulses free, we feed the lake, or pour into human culture and society for the good of it. Some of us are Michelangelos, Beethovens, Shakespeares etc. while most others are regular people with regular to zero acclaim. (Van Gogh was almost one of those.) What we all do is feed the lake, regardless of our popularity. As long as you express yourself and pour yourself fully into this work, you will find faith at the end of it. You will find Him in this desire to create, as we are created.

The best part of Being a part of this created process is that we all get prizes.

Prize: We get the chance to create and feel what it is like to birth something and have it validated by others perhaps. Before the Earth was formed it was a shapeless mass and before Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel, the ceiling was bare. There is always the before and after with the creative process.

Prize: We get life and the opportunity to give it to others through having children, adopting, encouraging, enriching a life in countless ways etc...
I want to be an inspiration to my children and to others that they are made for the purpose of using gifts and abilities. I don't want to hinder others by discouraging them from pusuing a passionate life and following dreams.

Prize: A Heavenly home- the epitome of desire for of all those who are created in His image and for His glory. We want this deeply and so our work and our way of life will reflect this.

If Heaven is not one of the prizes you long for, then perhaps you are not aware of who you are and why you are here. Ask and it shall be given- Seek and you shall find...when that door opens everybody gets prizes.

Talking About Big Things

My daughter and I have always had bold conversations. I feel like an older version of her, or maybe she is a younger version of me. I am 27 and she is 5. I loved being 5. I wanted to be an artist and she wants to be a veterinarian. I loved noodles and she loves cookies. We both watched Little House on the Prairie and we both wanted to be Laura.

When I was little, people would say "look at that red hair" and "my, what an old soul she is" and my daughter has both red hair and an "old soul"... She likes to ask questions such as "Mother, what is my glorified body going to be like?" and "Mother, did Adam and Eve have belly buttons since they were not actually born?" I have no idea of course, but we must discuss these things and try to figure them out or else I may lose that deep and inquisitive nature in myself and in my child. So, we deal with these things in a 1 part logical and 2 parts fantasy sort of way.

I volunteer each week at a Crisis Pregnancy Center. I talk to scared women about their options. I try and give them hope for a chance for the baby's life whether it be adoption or choosing to parent. I tell them that abortion is also an option, and give them a scientific run down of the procedure. Usually that is enough to make a woman either burst into tears, put on a stone cold face, or feel sick to their stomachs. Some women choose to parent, some abortion, and very few choose adoption. My job is to encourage them to get informed , know their rights and secretly pray that this little one will be born and have a chance to make a difference in this crazy world. Lily wants to know what Abortion is....

So- I tell her, no fantasy or logic- just the cold hard facts. Many may feel that she is too young to know. Some may think that this is wrong on my part and sucking away her innocence. I would argue that she is not innocent (she is a sinner that repents) or too young. She is my child and I know her better than others do.

My other children are too young. She has a history of asking sincere questions and they do not. We talked about Mountaintop removal. She was horrified. "Why are they destroying God's beauty?" she asks. So I tell her that it is so we can watch TV and turn on the light in the bathroom all night long so brother won't be afraid.

Talk to your little ones about BIG THINGS. Start them on a lifetime to critical thinking and wonder. Don't leave them there to figure it out alone and incorrectly. Don't tell them "what to think" teach them "how" to think.