Year in review part 2: Friends

In my last post, I focused on my family and God's grace in our lives over the past year. I'd like to turn now to my friends.
God's been teaching me a lot about what true friendship looks like recently. I need to reach out to others and form new relationships without neglecting the good friends I've already got. I tend to drift away from people after a few years for whatever reason; over this last year, some old acquaintances have come back into my life and our relationships have been renewed.

There's something very comforting about having someone who has known you for a while. You have those shared experiences and old jokes that you still find funny. An old friend doesn't need to dig for conversation topics, things just flow and an hour or two passes before you realize it. They know about your past awkward phases and bad haircuts, and love you just the same. I'm so appreciative of my long time friends. You know who you are, and I'm so glad you're in my life! My heart is fuller, my spirit richer because of your friendship. You put up with my faults and encourage me to be a better person. I love being able to share my weirdness and nerdy self with you. I might not see you for awhile, but we can pick up where we left off and have a grand time when we hang out together.We can talk about silly, shallow, light-hearted things, but we can also be real, deep and open with who we are. I love that. And I love you! I look forward to this coming year and getting to know you even better.

On the flip side, I've had to let some people slip out of my life, because I realized they're just not worth keeping in touch with. The problem with our Facebook culture is that relationships that would have naturally grown distant otherwise maintain this artificial intimacy. You see each other's status updates and Like their cute kitty pictures....but you haven't seen or spoken to them in person for over a year (or more). It's not like you hate them, they're actually pretty cool....but you don't have any kind of real interaction or relationship beyond the Internet.

Facebook is great for keeping in touch with long distance friends--I love that we can stay up to date and keep up with what's going in each other's lives. It supplements other communication. But for those casual acquaintances you wouldn't have kept in touch with, it can become kind of weird. We were friends once or saw a lot of each other at a particular point, some shared experience in our lives. But now? I haven't seen you since high school or whenever. It makes me feel mean to unfriend someone, but I realize I don't need to keep in touch with everybody. I can let them go and not be a bad person.

And some friendships I valued more than the other person and had different expectations for. I know that they don't place the same value on our relationship that I do and that will never change. I just have to accept that and stop trying to convince myself otherwise. It hurts a little bit to realize that and deal with it but it's the healthy and wise thing to do. I don't want to try to believe a lie. Letting go and moving on is the wise thing to do. I need to invest in relationships that are mutual not one-sided.

So, it's been the year of renewal and letting go, but also making new friends, relationships in their embryo phase. As I wrote recently, I finally found a church to call my own. Antioch Community Church has been a breath of fresh air into my life. For many reasons--which I don't need to go into here--I stopped going to church while in college and never got back into it once I graduated. I'd been sporadically attending the church I grew up in, but I'm a different person now and it's not the right fit anymore. I'm thankful for that church family--I grew up there and learned so much. Some of those people are more like family than those I'm actually related to! It's really like having a third side of my family. So this is not a diss to you, old church. I love many of you and will definitely continue to keep in touch. But it's predominantly a church of families and older singles, and I want relationships with my peers too. Also, it's in the suburbs and I feel called to the city seeing as how I've grown up here in Minneapolis.

So, Antioch. I checked it out a few times over the summer and committed to attending it within the last few months. I have never felt so welcomed as a stranger in a new place. I've gotten more plugged in as I've been able to re-arrange my work schedule. I'm hoping to go through their membership class coming up in January. There is something so REAL going on there, and I want to be part of that. I'm really excited to see what this next year will bring as I get to know more people. I feel like I can really share who I am--not just the "How are you?" "Good." "And you?" "Great." exchanges typical of churchy culture. I have gotten a phenomenal response of encouragement and desire for friendship back from sharing just a snippet of my testimony in church. I feel like I can be myself--crazy bright clothes, flowers in my hair and all the rest. I feel no need to hide any aspect of myself or partition off parts that might be unpalatable (part of that comes from getting older and more confident in myself too). For the first time in a long time, I'm excited to get up and go to church on Sundays. I look forward to it! I'm excited to go to community group and get to know people better. So, new church, looking forward to the next 12 months with you.

Continue on to Part 3: Me

Year in review part 1: Family

The holiday season is upon us, and one of its many traditions: the Christmas letter. Usually it's subtle (or boldly overt) showing off: Timmy's soccer team won the championship! Bobby graduated valedictorian! Susy won a gold medal! Whatever. Not that sharing your family's accomplishments is a bad thing, but all the awesome gets lumped into one page or card sent at the end of the year. I prefer to hear about the good things as they happen, to share in the joy. And when crap happens, I want to be there for my friends to help in their time of trouble.

So, this is my Christmas letter/blog, but I'm not here to just toot my own horn and show off how awesome I am. I want to review this past year, the good and the bad, to show how good God has been. On Christmas Eve for many years, I've had a conversation with God that I journal. I reflect on the past 12 months, and thank Him for his goodness and grace in my life. I think about the hard stuff I endured and the joys I got to experience. The friends gained...and lost. I notice when a stage of my life has ended, and thank God for it and look forward to the next chapter. I mull over what the theme of my coming year will be.

At the end of last December, I felt that 2011 would be the year of relationships: forging new ones, renewing and fortifying my existing friendships, drawing closer to family, seeking to know Jesus more personally. And that was the theme for this year in many ways.

I feel closer to my family, celebrating our inside jokes and shared silliness. We revel in being weird and laughing, because we know that life can really suck sometimes. My parents continue to love God, each other and our family, living that out in every circumstance. They celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary this year! I like to sit in the kitchen and talk about whatever with my Mom. I enjoy taking my Dad out to eat, because he's good company too. I'm so blessed to have such loving parents who are so involved in my life and care not just for my physical needs but also spiritual.

Hannah and I continue to share a room, dealing with limited closet space and different definitions of what "tidy" means. ;) Though it's fun to be able to raid each other's clothes when we have "nothing to wear." Hannah is a junior at the University of Minnesota, and will be studying abroad in New Zealand next semester. She's been praying and trusting God to provide all the money she stills needs as she's been filling out scholarship after scholarship.

Leah is going on over four years at Starbucks as a barista. Within the last couple months, she landed a job at First Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. If you don't know, First Ave is one of the premier clubs in the whole country! It's the perfect place to continue pursuing her calling in the music industry. She's also the manager for a band called Cosmonaut. I think God's going to be taking her some interesting places over the next year, that's for sure!

It's been rough year for Andrew to say the least. He's lived with Chronic Granulomatous Disease (CGD) his whole life, which is tough enough. But he was also diagnosed with Celiac Disease in 2008, and over the last year and a half has been battling Inflammatory Bowel Disease. His insides are all kinds of messed up. Much prayer for his recovery would be very appreciated. But no pity please. I don't want to define him simply by his diseases though. He is Mr. Technology: he's a hardcore gamer and wants to work for Game Informer magazine someday. I took him on a tour of my alma mater, Northwestern College, earlier this year...which was super weird for me. I used to change his poopy diapers....and now he's almost ready for college! Craziness. There is hope on the horizon for his CGD as well: a bone marrow transplant can cure it, and we're currently in the process of seeing if one of us siblings is a match. Please pray that one of us is, because that would be AWESOME! You have no idea what that would mean for Andrew, to be cured from this thing he's had to deal with since he was a baby.

My older brother, Nate, just got back from his third deployment to Iraq earlier this week. He's also been to Afghanistan twice. I'm happy he got home safe and sound. We're all excited to spend Christmas with him and hang out. He's going to be stationed in Hawaii for a while, so I might have to go out there for a visit.

For the first time in years, my whole family got to visit with my grandparents earlier this year. It was super fun to have us all there and celebrate my grandma and grandpa 60 years of marriage. I really like hanging out with my extended family.

At the end of May, my sisters and I embarked on a two week cross country road trip. I'm pretty sure that'll be the only time just the three of us travel together like that, and we had a lot of fun. Hannah and I both were sick for most of it, but we didn't let that slow us down. We drove to Omaha, Nebraska to visit our aunt and uncle, then down to Arizona to stay with our dear friends the Barnes family. We had much fun and merriment at their house. It was hard to come home after being so pampered. It was definitely a good time. Along the way, I left Doily Ninjas in every state. Leah was kind enough to document where I left them, and my Facebook is full of their pictures. And of course, we had to have a couple photo shoots too. This is my favorite from the trip. That's Hannah and I jumping in front of an awesome sunset in the middle of nowhere in Colorado.

So my family definitely experienced ups and downs this year, but God has been good and gracious to us. It's exciting to think where He's going to lead us in the next 12 months. I'm thankful for each of them and our deep love for each other. We actually like being around each other (most of the time).

Next up, Part 2: Friends 

Angry eyebrows and old people

I noticed recently that my face tends to naturally slip into a scowl.

Not like Mr. Sparkly Vampire--he's just pouting

I've been catching myself lately with a furrowed brow and my lips turned down. I don't know why either--I don't really have a lot of stress in my life. I think it's just because I tend to focus deeply on the task at hand or be in the process of deeply pondering something. 

But the reason it bothers me is that as you age, your face sets into whatever expression you make the most. Your wrinkles mirror your life-long demeanor, not just the face you present to the public.

Who's got a big stick up her butt?

Who's been laughing at himself for years?

I'm aiming to be a happy, joyful old person, and I want my face to reflect that. Old ladies come into the book store where I work all the time, and they just look like they've been sucking on lemons their whole lives. They also have waaaay to much makeup on and seem to be trying to pretend that they're still in their 20's. I'm sorry, but a woman in her 60's shouldn't dress the same as a 22 year old. It just looks silly and desperate. 

Guess what? I embrace the fact that I'm going to get old someday. I've already decided I'm not going to color my hair when it goes gray. What's that Bible verse? "Gray hair is a crown of glory." Yeah, I like that. 

Anyways, I don't want to look like those sour old ladies. I want my wrinkles to reflect my life of walking with Jesus. And that life might not always be easy or fun, but as a Christian, I can be content no matter what my situation. I don't want eyebrow furrows and frowning lips--I want laugh lines...lots of them. I want my face to show that even in the tough times, I still chose to look for the silver lining instead of focusing on all the dark clouds. (And that is how I currently view my life.)

 I seek to age like my parents, who have lived through many trying, dark times in their lives...yet it's common to hear them bantering and laughing with each other. They could be angry, bitter, cynical, and have every right to be. But what kind of life is that? They've shown me that a life of complaining and bitterness and grudge-bearing leads to nothing, even though it's easier to go that route. To choose happiness and joy takes a little more work, but is ultimately more fulfilling. I think one of the reasons my parents have aged so well is that they choose to make much of the good things in life. 

30 years of marriage--they still LIKE each other.
This picture epitomizes who they are.

I want to reflect that shared worldview. I don't want to be sour but joy-filled. Positive not grumpy. Happy by choice not from naivete. I want to age gracefully, not desperately trying to hang onto some ideal of youth. Just like the seasons of the year, so people transition into different stages of their lives. We need winter just as much as summer, does that make sense? 

So wrinkles? Bring 'em on. I just really don't want angry old lady eyebrows. 

I like Jesus...but not all his followers

"My own feeling...is that I would probably get along ok with Jesus himself if I met him, but some of his followers really don't get what he was trying to say."

This just...struck me...in such a deep place. Read it again, and mull over it a little bit.

I'm commissioning a piece from an artist on Etsy, who happens to be a practicing Pagan. This is a quote from her in an online conversation we're having to iron out the details of the commission. She was very upfront with me about her beliefs, which I appreciate and respect. And I've been just as open about my faith and what it means to me. 

And that's so rare. Why is that we're not supposed to talk about faith, the beliefs that we hold so deep and direct our lives? As if, somehow, we can't handle hearing that someone has *gasp!* a different worldview than we do? Like I'm suddenly going to lose my faith in Jesus, because someone told me they hold a very different set of beliefs than I do? I look at interactions like this to spur me on to question and challenge myself. Do I really believe what I say I do?

I was going to post on something else tonight, but when I read that sentence, I had to write something about it. Because it's so true. And I'm guilty of falling short of living like Jesus far too often. Sure, it's easy to point fingers, and rant about how horrible American Christianity can be, how materialistic / silly / wrong / shallow /whatever the church is....but, at the end of the day, I am the church, the body of Christ. We tend to focus on the church as corporate, many people, a group, denominations....but it's made up of a bunch of individuals. Me. You. We become Us and Them when we're gathered together on Sundays and at other events. But in our daily lives, it tends to be just me...you...going about everyday activities in our own little worlds. Making small decisions, here and there, that add up to who I am as a person. 

And is that a woman who loves Jesus? Not in word, because I say I do...but truly, actually in how I live my life, day in and day out? Does my life display what I say I believe? Do I understand who Jesus was and is, and how he said I should live my life if I follow him? Do I "get" what he was trying to say to us silly, lost people? 

"Pick up your cross and follow me....whoever loses his life will find it....blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth....you cannot serve God and money....unless you become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." Do we really get him?! I mean, so many people try to pin their own agendas onto their version of Jesus, twisting what he said to fit their bullet points. Do I change to fit what he said? It's a challenge to be a Christ follower; it takes sacrifice. Anyone who tells you differently is lying. It's not easy to become like Christ.

I want to "get" him, I really do. But my faith can be so lacking. 

God, give me strength to be like you, because on my own, I will fail. Open my eyes to see, my mind to understand, my heart to soften. Help me to be like you, not just in what I say, but in what I do, who I am.

Current Artist Statement

I just finished my application for graduate school the other day. There was much essay writing and re-writing that went into it. I applied for a full ride fellowship, had to say why I want to pursue a Masters in Fine Arts, what my art means. And I re-wrote my artist statement yet again. I've been doing that at least once a year since college anyways, but this was impetus to really do a good, thoughtful job. 

An artist statement is supposed to sum up in a page or less what your work means, why you make art and what you want viewers to take away from experiencing it. My goal is that everyone can read my statement and understand my art. I don't want it be overly academic and jargon filled. So for your reading pleasure, here's the latest rendition of what I want to say about my art (and yes, it is less than a page, it just looks like a lot): 

Evoking idealized childhood memories, I focus on the happiest moments, remixing those bright emotions into a shining daydream.  I don’t recreate a specific instance, more reference a romanticized feeling about the memory. I’m not interested in reality—real life is full of complications, sadness and disappointment. I choose to be easily pleased and enraptured, retaining a childlike enjoyment of the little things: a shiny jewel, a pretty bird, fluttering butterflies, a colorful button, bright colors, flowers, glitter, costume jewelry in all its sparkling glory. 

I pluck out the glorious moments of my childhood: the summer days of being a little girl when the world is exciting and full of adventure; the quiet contentment of eating a melting fudgesicle while sitting in lush green grass; the exhilaration of discovering the joys of reading as a young child; the sense of safety when my Dad would sing me to sleep at bedtime; the excitement of learning to ride a bicycle; feeling beautiful playing “dress-up” as scarves and old dresses get turned into a queen’s royal robes; the deep pleasure of learning to make beautiful things with my own hands; the surreptitious thrill of touching a sculpture in an art museum.

I still like to explore the world through touch—if I can’t hold something, discover its tactile qualities with my hands not just my eyes, it doesn’t feel real to me.  I want people to have that same pull when they look at my work. I’m portraying ephemeral and intangible concepts, yet the pieces themselves are weighty and substantial, catching the eye and inviting the viewer closer. I want sensible people to feel the urge to run their fingers across the surface, just to know if it actually feels like it looks. It’s that instinct to engage the world with all our senses that I want to evoke. You know you shouldn’t…but you just want to trace the curve of that jewel, the undulating hills of paint and varnish, the path of a twisting necklace.

In the studio, a sense of youthful playfulness and exploration pervades my art making process, though the more pragmatic side of me knows full well that those rosy memories are past and in fact, never actually were as I portray them. As much as I want to hold onto that idealized time of my life, reality intrudes.

In my recent work, I’ve been mulling over the turmoil that is adult life, the need to let go, and exodus: birds in migration, paint trails meandering aimlessly through the picture plane, jewelry in seeming disintegration, thread unraveling, materials actually hanging off the work as if caught in mid-dissolution. My paintings blur to various degrees over time, contributing to the sense of a dream dissolving as you wake up. The cheap jewelry I use tarnishes and discolors easily, bringing a touch of imperfection and decay to my idyllic daydream. The more layers I add the more blurred out the initial images become, sometimes ending up only as blobs of vague color. This is so much like our own minds in regards to memory: The further back you try to recall, looking through all the layers of time that have passed since, the less details you can remember--only a hazy general outline remains that you can project upon. The present can easily bestow a glossy veneer over the past. It’s mental flotsam building up to cover over the dark parts and leave the shining moments to glimmer through. 

You can see more of my work over on Deviant Art or MNArtists. 

Christmas Car Crash

Three years ago, just two days after I graduated from Northwestern College, I got in a horrible car accident on my way to work. It was a very cold day--a freeze-your-nose-hairs-when-you-breath kind of cold.
This was before I had my own car, so I normally would have driven the Saturn that my sisters and I were sharing. But that day, Leah had to work at the same time as I did, so my Dad let me use his Impala. It was icy and a little slippery as I set out, but it didn't seem unusual for Minnesota in December. I got on the highway, driving very slowly due to the ice on the road.

As I was going along, I saw a car that had spun out up ahead. Being the conscientious driver that I am, I moved over the the left lane to give the driver more room (in MN, you're supposed to move over away from cars on the shoulder). Well, I changed lanes right into the same black ice that guy had just spun out on.
I was only going about 35 mph, but I hit sheer ice and lost control of the car. Thankfully at that moment there were no cars around me. I spun around and around, headed straight for that other car. All I remember seeing was the front of that vehicle as I smashed into it.

BAM!!

I think I might have blacked out for a moment, because I couldn't hear or see anything for what was probably only a few seconds. I just remember hearing the crazy, insane beating of my heart, and then slowly, my hearing faded back in and I could hear the Celtic Woman CD still playing in the stereo. I had impacted on the driver's side of my car. I took a mental inventory of myself -- I was okay. Nothing felt broken. The airbags hadn't gone off. I looked down and saw that the seat was smooshed in. If that chair hadn't been so wide and taken all the impact, I definitely wouldn't have walked away so easily. I looked to my left and realized that the door was punched in, like a giant fist had smashed into it. But strangely, the top of the door was leaning away from me. The window hadn't even broken. My left thigh started hurting, and I realized that it had smacked into the steering wheel. Without even thinking about it, I put the car in park, and took the CD out and put it back in its case (it was from the library and I didn't want it to get scratched--funny what your brain focuses on in moments like that).
The other driver came running over as I was shakily taking stock of myself. Thank goodness, he hadn't been in his car when I hit. He had the same kind of Saturn that I would normally have been driving, and it was completely totaled. It looked like a giant had crumbled it up. All I could think was, "If I had been driving the Saturn, I would not be okay right now." Impalas are a much more heavy-duty vehicle than the chintzy Saturn.

When I crawled out on the passenger's side and walked around to see the damage, I was shocked. My car was totaled too, though not so bad off as the other vehicle; the frame was bent, the door was deeply punched in, the windshield had huge spider web cracking. My heart still was going a mile a minute, I could barely breath and I couldn't stop shaking.

I went to the hospital and got an X-ray of my leg, just be safe, but it wasn't broken, just spectacularly bruised. Thankfully, my Dad had full coverage on his Impala and got a new car pretty quickly. I went back to work two days later, with a sore leg and head ache.

It took me a little longer to get back on that highway though. It was hard to get behind the wheel after that. I wish I had a picture to show you of the accident, it was pretty spectacular. I had a slight panic attack the first time I drove after the accident. It was still winter, I still had to go to work and I couldn't have someone else drive me forever. Thankfully, I can just as easily take city streets as the highway to get to work, which is what I did for the next month.

Not giving into fear either

Three years later, I still get a tight feeling in my chest when the first heavy snow and hard freeze hits, and I have to drive in it. I have to remind myself to relax and breathe, and that within a couple weeks I'll be driving just fine in this weather. I push through the fear, because I don't want to be captive to the past. I'm going to live my life, which means I have to drive around the city year round. I refuse to let that bad experience hold me back from doing fun things. The fear is there, yes, but I won't give in to it. I'm definitely more cautious than I used to be when it comes to winter driving, however I don't freak out over every little slip and slide. Seriously, it's MinneSNOWta, the majority of the year it's cold and snowy here.

The weather today is what prompted this post--it's cold and icy. And I drove on the highway "like a baller," as my tattoo artist likes to say. (which means, awesomely)

Porn: "It's easy satisfaction"

I just read this article about a pastor struggling with addiction to porn. It saddens me so much that pastors and ministry leaders feel like they have to hide their weaknesses and sin.

Jesus wants us to be FREE!

I have first hand experience with that though: my ex-boyfriend from a few years back. He was going to a Bible college, involved with his church, planned on being a pastor....and was very addicted to porn. He ended up cheating on me with a friend of his from school. Sinful thoughts, not repented of and held accountable, lead into sinful actions. He held to an old-school (and in my mind, unhealthy) view of church: the head pastor is in charge of everything and everyone and can't admit to weakness. 

Yeah, because apparently pastors aren't human? They can't get tired, sick, weary, angry, lonely, hungry? I think it's ridiculous that some people put pastors up on a pedestal, as if they're somehow above their congregants. Guess what? Those in ministry are people too! Who'd of thought? I think it's stupid to expect one man to run a whole church. I'm a big fan of the multiple pastor model--spread the responsibility around. CEOs delegate--pastors should too. Anyways.

This mindset of "I have to be strong, I'm on a pedestal, I must be uber-Christian," leads to no accountability and extreme lonelines. "I can't admit to struggling with something so base as sexual temptation. People will think less of me." Actually, I think more of someone who can be humble and vulnerable and admit to being weak.
My favorite quote from the article I mentioned:  "Part of the problem of pornography is that "it's easy satisfaction," Finlayson-Fife says. "It doesn't require vulnerability and openness to another person." Exactly! It's easier to let everyone look up to you, than take the hard route and open up about what you're struggling with. Sadly, there are those who don't want to think of their pastor as a normal human being.

One of the hardest things to say to another person is "Help me. I can't do this by myself." You're opening up yourself to the possibility of being hurt and wounded--it's hard to be vulnerable! Who wants to admit to being weak? But here's the thing: if our church leaders can't be open and honest...what does that mean for the rest of us who are under their leadership? We need to hold them responsible to repent and lean on Jesus...and we need to do the same. How can we be "one body" following Christ if we can't share our struggles with each other? We're supposed to be defined by our love, but not a weak, sappy, sentimental "love." True love accepts you where you are as you are...but it doesn't want you to stay there!

So, we have a wide spread problem in Christian circles of addiction to porn, sexuality twisted into something unhealthy, something good created by God turned into an idol people worship. Here's the thing: we can't blame external sources for the sin. Before the modern era, the computer, the smart phone, people still worshiped at the altar of sex, taking it out of its God ordained place. The mode of consuming it might have changed, but it's still the same sin. The inclination to sin is internal--our hearts are bent that way naturally. The blame doesn't lie in stress, a busy day, difficult people, feeling lonely, whatever...at the end of the day, it's about a choice we each individually make in the quiet of our own hearts and minds. Do I give in, do I take the easy way? Or do I resist and fight...even though I'm tired, weak, scared, alone? I want that quick pleasure...but I know it ultimately doesn't fulfill me. The more sin is given into, the more power it has over us. Eventually the pleasure becomes addiction, and it's not that we want it...we need it. And the chains pile on and become so hard to break.

We're supposed to be the master of ourselves, self controlled. Jesus said he came to give us "life--more abundant." He knows we are weak creatures and unable to rescue ourselves. He made us for community. Hiding and lying about our struggles just isolates and separates us from each other. We are strongest when we are united in relying on Christ. The sinner needs to take responsibility for their sin, confess and repent, seek help and accountability. The ones sought for help need to be loving and supportive yet not enabling the sin to continue. A pat on the head and a slap on the wrist helps no one at the end of the day. It's not okay--it's sin! It is hard to break free, and can take a long time.

I apologize if this post is a bit rambling. There's just so much rattling around in my head right now about this. Ultimately, I think the most important thing is that we need to break this culture of pretending that "I'm okay, you're okay, Jesus is awesome!" Guess what? Just because you're a Christian doesn't mean it's always going to be super-awesome-fun-times. Life actually sucks quite a bit some days. And that's okay! Following Jesus full-heartedly usually is hard. I give you permission to drop the facade and admit that you're struggling. If we cultivate a culture where our Christian leaders feel like they can admit to sinning and being weak and know that they'll get help and support, I think it'll be better for everyone.