Sprouting all over the place

British accountants, having fun for charity

Even accountants like to have fun! Our CPA d-i-love is one of the most creative people I've met. Rebekah's clothes and hats are bright and beautiful; her taste in music and movies is far-ranging. (Not to mention her fabulous cooking. Lucky Jer!) You could hit me over the head with her spreadsheets and they'd make as much sense as when I look at them. And Rebekah's personality is as different than mine as are our interests and education.

That's a good thing! By design, each of us has a unique personality. Even among those who share similar gifts and education, our personality makes us stand out or step back.

Here's Wiki's definition: Personality is the particular combination of emotional, attitudinal, and behavioral response patterns of an individual. In other words, the way you react to life IS your personality.

If you've been encouraged and cheered, you probably have a fairly stable look at life and expect good things. If someone constantly berated or put you down, chances are you withdraw until you feel safe. That's one part of personality.

Einstein got it right. (From ZsaZsa Bellagio)

Our attitudes toward faith, work, and play determine how we define ourselves and how people see us. Born into us is the desire to be big. To do things. Some people love to puzzle and craft. Others like physical labor. Still others prefer to grab a book and study. None is better than another.

Sometimes curiosity makes us sprout out all over the place. Our interests, shaped by where we are and who we are, draw us into new things. We may feel exhilarated by what we find. Peaceful. Fearful. Happy. Terrified. Breathless.

But our exploration of God's world surely pleases the One who made us all adventurers.

In several situations, I felt squeezed into a "smaller-please!" mode. The "accepted" box felt constraining. Limiting. Uncomfortable. I couldn't keep the lid down. Couldn't conform, no matter how hard I tried to please others. Finding myself losing my soul, I ran away. Escaped. Whew. Still me. Bursting out all over.

A happy art accident in 10-minutes of play during
worship at the NWMN Women's Conference 2013:
print, paint and collage (10"X12")

Today I have a few questions for you dear readers: feel free to answer one or more.

• Do you see yourself as a creative personality (whatever that means to you)? Why/ why not?
• What parts of you are creative and curious?
• Where has your curiosity led you? Has that been positive or not?
• What boundaries do you put on your curiosity?
• Who's the most creative person in your life now - and what do you like about them? What irritates you? (Someone told me once that my "very grateful" remark on a card irritated them. I asked why. "Well, can't you just write that you're grateful? Why do you have to be very all the time?" HAHA)
• What parts of your relationships, job, ministry, or play would you like to expand?

Personality develops through our responses to people and life. Having choices (God's gift of free will) means we won't always have positive experiences. We hurt and we get hurt. Step out and withdraw. Test the waters. Swim the seas. 

Why not start today, to be the best, most creative personality - the most "you" and the most "me" - as God intended us to be?

Read more:

*The Lord says, "You have seen how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself." Exodus 19:4 ESV

*The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1 ESV

*Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts; let them proclaim your power. I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor and your wonderful miracles. Your awe-inspiring deeds will be on every tongue; I will proclaim your greatness. Everyone will share the story of your wonderful goodness; they will sing with joy about your righteousness. Psalm 145:4–7 NLT

*Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor. Proverbs 21:21 ESV

*But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. Jeremiah 17:7-8 NLT

*[Love] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:6-7 ESV

*Paul writes: I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6 ESV

Moravian Prayer: Lord God, Comforter, Protector, and Savior, our hearts are filled with joy as you hold us close to you. Never let us go. We thank you for your precious son Jesus, whose blood was shed to cleanse us of our sins. Keep us close to you Lord God, always. Amen.

C. S. Lewis, on conversion (from The Weight of Glory): Before I became a Christian I do not think I fully realized that one’s life, after conversion, would inevitably consist in doing most of the same things one had been doing before, one hopes, in a new spirit, but still the same things.

The kaleidoscope of creativity

"Give a mouse a highchair..."

"Look, Oma," she says, handing the mouse a piece of popcorn. Her IKEA mice and goats hang from my drawer pulls. Kinsey nibbles on popped kernels between feeding her dolls.

Our granddaughter's play reminds me of how free-flowing the days were when our kids were little.

No wonder our children think outside the box. We rarely watched TV: we galloped through the neighborhood pizza store or fire station on our field trips, glided past possibilities in our boatload of imagination. We padded through the world, flipping through pages of library books and we stalked adventures as if on cat paws.

Everything in sight was fair game. An item did not just "do" its original function. Anything could serve whatever purpose we dreamed up in the moment. When we put it away, we left its ideas behind and started our next adventure. It wasn't quite Pippi Longstocking, but some days probably came close to her nutty household.

#3 grade pine soffit boards

This year, whether clearing our space or opening the doors of imagination with K, I'm catching glimpses of past creativity.

• Jars of kitchen spices, sniffed, to determine a menu = letting our noses decide how supper should taste.
• Screw-in hooks and metal drywalling corners from the hardware store that made affordable curtain rods (that lace valence stretched across 2 rooms). 
• Stale rice dumped into a huge Tupperware, set in the middle of a blue tarp = an indoor sandbox for rainy Seattle days. 
• Baking science and math curriculum = the kitchen chemistry lab of measuring cups,  the amalgamation of ingredients, oven light on to observe fusion as cookies melted and rose ...) 
• #3 grade pine soffit as 8" floorboards = 20 years of decor satisfaction, even if my dad mentioned that "Grandpa wouldn't use this in a barn" while we were nailing it down.
• Hiring the Paris diplomat's daughter as babysitter ("Please speak only French to the children," when they hadn't heard a word of French before.) Spanish Muzzy - the kids remember how to count three apricots in Spanish to this day.
• Children's magazines as core curriculum: Zoobooks for geography, botany, and zoology curriculum. Ladybug and Cricket magazines as literature. National Geographic Kids as social studies, geography, art, and photography.
  
• Year-end educational testing to see how our homeschoolers measured up to state standards = play dates with a bit of paperwork between. (Yeah, our kids were pretty relaxed during tests.)
• Funeral wreaths tossed into a pile by cemetery maintenance workers, stripped and reused for pinecone wreaths at Christmas. Pinecones also gathered on our walks through the cemetery. (Okay, so my m-i-l thought that was a slightly gruesome robbery. Love you MomK - and weren't the wreaths pretty?)

What's in your hands today? How can you look at resources differently? 

Oh - this just popped into my head because my coaching session today helped me rethink a few of my own assumptions. My mind is churning and sorting. 

I'm a coach as well as being coached. Contact me if you could use a free hour of coaching to talk through a stalemate or look at things a new way. I need a few more clients for the next certification level. Thanks!

Read more:

*My heart exults in the Lord. 1 Samuel 2:1 NEV

*I gave them my Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them. Ezekiel 20:12

*Jesus said, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." John 10:10 ESV

*Abide in my love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. John 15:9,11 ESV

Moravian Prayer: As we awaken to a new year, let our first thought be a song of praise to our Father in heaven. For your gift of life, we thank you from the depths of our hearts and we boldly call upon you, Lord, to lead us safely through our time on earth. In Jesus' name we pray. 

Praise God, praise God, praise God. We love you, we honor you, we sing to you praises of joy. Praise God, praise God, praise God. Your mercy, compassion, and grace are our strength and anchor. Hear our songs, O Lord. Amen.