Saturday Story

What letter story will I tell today?  A, P & V are done, so that leaves another 23 letters to choose from!

Queen's Guide presentation.  How about the glasses!

Let's look at Q today.  What Q words can you think of?  Questions, quotes, qualifications, Queen, the Queen, Queen's Guide, qualities, quality time, Quality Street, quarantine, queue, quilt, quinquennial.

Isn't quinquennial a beautiful word?  I found it in the dictionary.  I didn't know there was such a word.  Apparently it means recurring every five years.   The only example I can find is from the Fixed Term Parliamentary Act in the UK that says that there should be a general election every 5 years.  Unless of course they call another one in between.   Sorry!  Off down a rabbit hole.  That's what comes of reading the dictionary!

Let's go back to my list and find some relevant stories.

I have lots of qualifications.  A teaching certificate, a B.A.(Hons) and a Masters degree (M.Ed). Sad to say that the degrees were about proving that I was capabale of getting them.  My grammar school teachers had said I wasn't good enough to go to University.  They also said that I shouldn't apply to a London Teacher Training College.  However I did ignore the last piece of advice and went to Southlands College in Wimbledon, London.  But after leaving college I got it into my head that I needed to prove myself.  This was before people talked about being 'enough' but I expect it is the same thing.  I did my first degree part time with the Open University and my masters part-time at Warwick University.  However I never told the school what I had done so I'm not sure what it proved and to whom.

Standing on a manhole cover to stop my heels sinking into the grass!

I also got photography qualifications and creative embroidery qualifications.  And at one point took the Mensa exam. And got in!

The day I received the letter telling me I had completed my masters degree my dad asked me when I was going to start my Ph.D.   And I took up the challenge and looked into doing a Ph.D in children's literature at Worcester University.   And then I came to my senses!

I didn't need to prove myself.  I didn't need more qualifications.  What I needed was just to be me.

But it's hard when you've always been performance driven.  I try now to be a 'being' not a 'doing'!

I expect there are other Q stories but I'll leave you with a quote from Charles Schultz:

'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today.  It's already tomorrow in Australia.'

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Faith & Creativity: Debby Hudson

Please welcome Debby Hudson today.

My husband and I are ordained ministers working with men in a residential recovery program. Walking the beaches of South Florida restores our soul. I find myself in many creative pursuits. I like my tea sweet and my music loud. If laughing were a sport I’d be a champion.

My hands are always busy. Doodling, writing, coloring, shooting photos, editing….it is a quiet busy but the eyes study, the hands move and the mind runs.

The first drawing I did that was recognized for some artistic ability was of a postal truck. I was in first grade and my drawing was chosen to be part of an exhibit at our local Sears store. I liked that my mom encouraged my interest in drawing. She never stopped.

"Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted.” Titus 1:15 NLT

My art isn’t Christian. Or unChristian. Art is lessened by labels. It is an expression, an offering of sorts. More than that, it is, as Madeleine L’Engle says, “an effort toward wholeness”.

I push myself to try something new. To learn a new form or technique. To not become stagnant. The struggle isn’t with skill but with not being so critical of my work.

Another challenge for me is feeling there must be a purpose. Over the years I made more cross-stitch pictures than I had walls to hang or friends to give them to.

One year I was making paper mache Santa’s. Too many Santa’s or too few friends. And selling, while I did some of that, has never been my strong suit.

Now, it’s my computer filled with more and more photos thanks to the still life class I’m in and I ask myself, what am I going to do with this? Just let them sit on my computer? Make another photo book? How many watercolor pads can I fill with paintings? How many can I share with friends? There has to be some purpose in everything. I’m far too practical to be a real artist I think.

"The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” Pablo Picasso

A friend reminded me that the purpose is in sharing. Sharing touches others. To bring a spark of joy, a smile or a laugh, at times maybe a tear. With social media, sharing our art is easier than ever.

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”
Edgar Degas

Realizing this has opened me up to see that art is broader than paint brushes and canvases. It goes beyond musical scores and skillful fingers flying across the keys of a baby grand piano.

“Art is communication.” Madeleine L’Engle

I would even ask you to consider what is the art in you?

Tone deaf? Can’t draw a stick figure? Do you have trouble threading a needle or every photo you take is blurry?

Look deeper. I believe that God who is the masterful Creator of the universe, has made us to share in his creative process. He’s put art in you.

Preston Yancy, who writes beautifully about his spiritual journey, finds a spiritual connection in making bread. I prefer buying it ready made. I don’t get the art he finds in this but I find beauty in knowing this is what God uses to draw him closer.

Not all art is public. Nor is all art made by those called artist. It’s definition can only be defined by what God puts in your heart.

To my husband, art is a well tended golf course.

Art is a smile, a child’s laugh.

It’s a new born baby and an aging woman helped to the sea by her daughter.

It’s a daughter sitting with her mother who doesn’t remember her and loving her anyway.

Art is the orchestra and the conductor.

Art is revealing little pieces of you in everything you write.

Art is hearing God’s voice and letting it mark your life in all you do.



Thank you Debby
You can find more from Debby online at
Blog: debbyhudson.com
Twitter: @debby_hudson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debbyhudsoncreative