Good morning…
“Hi, I just talked to Agape,” texted my fun friend Corinne Adams on March 25th. (Agape Youth and Family Center supports and empowers both senior citizens and school age kids from underserved families in our community.) “They wished aloud for as many as 226 pieces of Mother’s Day jewelry before April 23rd! (200 kids and 26 senior citizens). I am remembering that you and Julie’s Dream mentioned Agape as a possible partner for our kids’ gift shopping experience. I told them I would commit 50-70 pieces and we’d see how it goes. So if you’re in a jewelry making mode, go for it!!!”
Well, we faced a bit of a challenge. Corinne was going to the beach with her family for two wonderful weeks. Without Corinne, how could jewelry multiply from 50 pieces to 226 in less than a month? Before leaving town, she taught me how to make her C-Glass creations and invited me to slip down into their basement to creatively play while she was away.
“No pressure,” Corinne texted later from the beach. “They are gracious and happy for whatever Manna falls their way.”
Do you remember the recent post which posed Seven Key Questions to ponder as we move through this worldwide pandemic? Two of the questions were: “What’s one thing you made this year?” and “What art have you turned to in this time?” Well, these questions morphed together in me and now you get a peek at my energizing, sticky-fingered answer.
I diligently returned for a few hours most days, channeling my inner Corinne, spurred on by the Spirit of our friend Julie Harlan and the joyful faces of the kids and the seniors dancing delightfully in my head. Our stash grew and grew and grew. Then I laid out pieces Corinne was donating and the surprising abundance felt like the miraculously filling feast of Jesus born from two tiny fish and five little loaves (Matthew 14:15-21).
Today I feel a bit like one of Santa’s jolly elves as Corinne drops off our swelling stash of jewelry. We stopped counted as our growing collection expanding into, “We definitely have enough!” I would guess God produced through us nearly four hundred pieces of jewelry this month, gifts that will give each child and each senior a wide variety of choice as they tangibly feel the generous love of our living LORD.
You know me. I’ll be joyfully, prayerfully connected to each and every woman who receives one of these treasures on Mother’s Day morn!
“The only unique contribution that we will ever make in this world will be born of our creativity,” says Brene Brown, author of The Gifts of Imperfection. “If we want to make meaning, we need to make art. Cook, write, draw, doodle, paint, scrapbook, take pictures, collage, knit, rebuild an engine, sculpt, dance, decorate, act, sing – it doesn’t matter. As long as we’re creating, we’re cultivating meaning” (96).
We have become his poetry, a re-created people that will fulfill the destiny he has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfill it! (Ephesians 2:9-11, TPT). “The beautiful Greek word used here is translated “poem” or “poetry,” says the footnote for verse ten. “Our lives are the beautiful poetry written by God that will speak forth all that he desires in life.”
…Sue…
