Artist Discovery

Arthur Rackham. I found him while looking up "famous illustrators". He did illustrations in the late 1800's and early 1900's for books like:

• Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (1900)
• Rip van Winkle (1905)
• Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (50 colour plates, 1906)
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (13 colour plates, 1907)

In all my ventures in looking for different artists, surprisingly, I had never heard of him, even though he illustrated such classics. His paintings are odd, but very appealing. I love how stark they are, and I'm always attracted to deep shadows matched with awkward creatures.

Samples

Last Saturday, after seeing a delightful flick at the theater (The Tale of Despereaux), my family and I all walked to Costco. It was coldest weather I have ever walked in. I think my face froze off.
Now, one of the many wonders of costco is the free samples which they provide. They make a simple trip to a warehouse filled with food-in-bulk into a treasure hunt of surprise to your taste buds, but, really, how important is it that you get that tiny bite of ravioli before that other guy? (or even at all)
As I said before, it was bitterly cold out, and there, the most appropriate sample could be found: hot apple cider. And there I waited. Not long, but I waited. Two, Three, Maybe Four people were in front of me. Now it was my turn, but before I had the chance to move, a vulture rose from the crowd and snatched my drink! MINE. He winked at me and said a snively "Thank you." to the one who was serving. I watched him slurp it down. He was at least in his late forties. He should have known the etiquette of waiting in sample lines.... I took the next tiny cup of cider, feeling shafted and stepped on.
This was a small moment which shows us the character of what we all could be. It makes me think of when people would pay to watch the Gladiators. For a small price, a person could have entertainment and free food. People would gorge themselves to the point where they would vomit. There were entire pits built merely for people's puke. I think this is the epitome of human greediness. They didn't know when to stop. Just like the kid who was in front of me that day who took three fine cheese samples when there were clearly at least six or seven other people waiting. It was completely thoughtless.
Tellemicus, a monk living during the period of the gladiators, felt that the Lord was calling him to Rome. When he arrived, he was shuffled into the Colosseum to behold the slaughtering. He had been living, sheltered in the mountains for most of his life, and what he saw disgusted him. He began running down the steps of the theater yelling "In the Name of Jesus Christ, Stop!" he began somewhat quietly, but grew steadily louder. Soon enough, his was the only voice heard. He was shot down by the guards, and with his last breath he said "In the name of Jesus Christ, Stop!" With the mention of this name, one person left, and soon enough, the Colosseum was empty.
Tellemicus was called to Rome to be killed for a great cause, to stop the murdering, and end the greed the Colosseum brought to people of all ages. His bravery, obedience, but even more, the Lord inside of him, brought the this end to an evil.
In our lives, we should obviously not yell at every person that cuts us off in line. Instead, lets be examples to the people, showing them who we serve by letting them go ahead. Show them why you are different. Show them your love with simple kindnesses.

E.M. speaks the truth.

I've been listening to Erwin McManus, the founder and pastor of mosaic church, as of late, thanks to my brother. His words feel like a well spring of inspiration. Everything he says is focused on finding your Future, your Dream, Yourself. Each week that I have listened to, he has told his listeners that they are a part of a plan bigger than themselves, that they are for the world around them, to be used as the Lord wills. As believers, they are the ones who should be the "greats" in the world, the ones to create new, beautiful things, the ones to accomplish huge tasks. Each of his messages brings forth a step to take. The most profound step so far, or at least the one whose information I contained the easiest, was on Adapting.
In this message, his main point was that you must have a strong core so that you may adapt to your surroundings, without losing the base of character that you are to have acquired. He used an illustration about an experience he had with pilates ,through which he had learned, that without a strong core, you have minimum flexibility.
Now, building strong character from the beginning of your life was an important point of his. The first 20 years of your life, give or take, are about Preparation and Execution, and if you do not learn these steps you will never complete the next stages of your life which involve Enduring and Adjusting. If the first two steps are not learned in high school and college, they must be re-learned later on, or failure is eminent. Enduring hardships and Adjusting to life's situations are very linked with the Preparation taken in strengthening your core, and the early Executing of those prepared skills.
Throughout his sermons, he refers to his community, which are mostly artists living in LA, but we ALL have dreams that need to be prepared for, executed, endured, and adjusted. If not, we need to find something, as he says, that would be good for the world at large. What is your life being lived for? Who are you becoming? How will that change the world?-Are just a few of the questions he asks.
I feel very young.
I am.
His questions make me ask, really, who am I becoming? What am I preparing for? I've always had this drive to become the most I could, to be a renaissance woman. I worry sometimes how well I can accomplish what I seek out to be with how much I don't know. Every day I'm alive I realize another thing I don't know, another field I have no business being in. It's humbling. I know I'll never reach the point where I know enough. It's a frontier that just goes on. A journey that doesn't end.
But I'll always be ready to take that on.
I know that.

Thanks, Erwin, for the pushes you give to step forward.

Santa: The Distraction

In this season, there are two people whom you hear the most about: Santa and Baby Jesus. Now, I'm glad that Jesus can be a part of this holiday, overjoyed in fact, but the main story of Christmas is His birth. That's it. People hear of this little baby that eventually became who knows what, but they don't hear anything about His Life, His Death, His Resurrection! People are missing out on the important parts! The real facts about who Jesus was and is.
This terrible Santa figure which people have insisted on forcing into children's minds to manipulate them into being good is the replacement for a father figure, for a God figure. He is the man whose lap children sit upon. They feel this mall-employee's warmth and "love" and they feel comforted. It's that protection that they want. He knows them for who they really are, and he loves them anyway. He listens to them and makes them feel like things will be alright. He wants them to be good, and they want to please him. Sound familiar?
During Jesus' life, he told the children to come to Him, sit on His lap, and feel His love. Santa is a poor contemporary replacement for something real. Sure, he is a fun game we play as children, but there is point where he overtakes the truth. He becomes a child's Jesus. Extreme. I know. A stretch? maybe.
But maybe not.
Throughout this Christmas season, let's try to look past the commercial sides of Christmas, even that momentary nativity scene, into Jesus' life. Roll out the big picture, Discover the real Christmas season, and Thank the Lord for his Gift to us all!

-abigail

Land

People portray their land. The mountains are always clouded, you cannot see far, and they are cluttered. People of the mountains can look as far as the nearest tree, and betond that, vision is impaired. As the shores collapse on you at one side, the mountains tower above you on another. Everyone is climbing for their own good, their own will to survive. Breathing is harder the higher you reach. Your judgment is clouded and you disperse into overwhelming thoughts that you have failed your climb to selfish success. Your few ill-equipped teammates drag you down. You've yet to acclimatize to their constant pulling on your strings, their need for your space, their thirst for your time and energy.
You summit. For a moment in time, you stand ethereal, like the great peak on which you rest. Your body aches and groans, but you grow with the knowledge that you are living and breathing and hurting. Yes, for a moment, you see beyond what you know.
Over the mountain there is another kind of land and people. Breaking out from the west, an expanse lies before you, and the skies are clear. Save a few dry trees and broken fences, there are no flaws in the landscape, and nothing is hidden from sight except the rolling hills, too far for our eyes to see. The people are like their land. They hide nothing. The bitter cold and the blazing hot are directly connected with their need to produce life, to sustain generations, to build red roads leading to higher glories. The land is plain and the horizons are broad. The people think not merely on the now, but the eventual someday. The land will see another spring. It always does. As earnestly they broke, years before, what they value most, they learned the reality of what the weather can bring. They respected the higher power. They embraced it. They do not fear it. Their plain look on black thunderheads, which would be your doomsday, is a shrug and a firm planting of the feet. If it takes them down, none can stand against it.
You, walking beyond your foothills, find the expanse clearing to your mind. You can breath again. You can speak again. For a little while, you embrace the greatness of emptiness. You lift your head to the hot sun. Let it bake you like it has the mud on your boots, but when the shear howling wind seems to roar in your ears and the amber waves seem to swallow you up, you wish to take your lead feet and run for the highlands. You reach for something near to cling to, a bough to cushion your blow. Every emblem of your green sea is a reminder of home, of the cleaning sensation a shower can bring, the pleasure of a cool sun. You remember that you are the person of your land.
Much is learned from the expanse, and the People are like their lands, you know. Yet as you see your great cliffs standing defiantly above you, and you feel your green grass, cooling your burns, you realize you are like your land, heavy with deep forests and tall peeks. You will stand tall. You will cool wounds. You will reach for the heavens, ever wanting more.