Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! (Psalm 34:8 ESV)

It’s summer break here! And that means Ant Kamp! A wonderful world that I create in my imagination, using resources from my stash of creative pursuits combined with my two nieces and the twin nephews.

The first day, I arrive at their house with feasts of books, art supplies and ideas for adventures to devour. I let them sleep in, and one by one they find me on the back porch, which has been transformed into a summer camp cabin with places to lounge and to eat and to make things and memories.

Yesterday, they found comfy places to sprawl. One in the wicker rocker, two snuggled on the “window seat” made from a camp cot, comforter and pillows, and the fourth and youngest on her back under the coffee table; each listening, but ready with their own thoughts and opinions of this summer tradition of adventuring together.

I decide to start the conversation with the topic of reading goals, suggested by their mother. Read two books this summer, one you like and one you normally wouldn’t choose. They have to be chapter books.

Before I finish, the questions and clarifications fly. Can it be a book I already read? Can I use a book I’m in the middle of? Why a chapter book? I don’t like to read.

I try to convince and cajole them into believing this is a clear cut goal and expectation. More questions and a few groans. I table the topic.

We move into brainstorming ideas of fun activities. I slip in a mention about finding a notebook to use for writing. (Knowing they might find that topic suspect. A little too much like summer school.) No reaction yet, so I will weave it in again another time.

I save the big surprise for last. Grandma says we can get goldfish for the aquarium. The youngest can’t believe her ears, and the others start thinking of what name they will give their fish.

Later in the day we eagerly pile into the car. Off to get our fish. At the pet store, the worker recommends we get a filter and condition the tank for a week first. I was happy that they took the delay in stride. Goldfish next week.

Today, I want to revisit the idea of reading. Maybe if I suggest they devour a book that will whet their appetite? We will see.

What do you want to devour this summer?

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens . . .” (Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV)

From emptiness to fullness, how do we get there? Much has to do with seasons and timings. And transitions.

As I have witnessed the robin build her nest, which I almost removed from my porch lattice, I have marveled at how patiently she waits for the transitions to happen. She doesn’t squawk and beat her wings or chide the eggs to hurry up and hatch. She just sits on the nest and waits. Occasionally, she flies off to get a worm to eat, and then returns.

When the eggs hatched, she fed the babies and sheltered them from the wind and rains with her own frame. Then one day, I went to look at the babies, and they promptly plopped out of the nest, big enough to hop away and live their robin lives. The mother robin didn’t squawk or cry or say her life was over. She just reinforced her nest, and waited.

My husband did some research on the life cycles of robins, and we were surprised to find out, she might lay two more sets of eggs before spring was over. Currently, she is sitting on four new eggs.

She does what she was designed to do. Bear eggs, warm them until they hatch, feed the babies and watch over the babies, and then let them go.

I am learning to flow with the transitions over here. I am working part time, helping my sister with her fledgling teenagers, and traveling when we can. But instead of squawking and wishing I was in a different season of  life, I am resting in the now. Enjoying the creative flow of work, play and rest. Teaching art classes on Fridays, preparing for summer adventures and trying new things, too.

This summer on Tuesdays, I will be offering art journal/prayer prompts in The Consilium Prayer Room hosted by Janet Cafer and Irene Serrato. If you’d like to come along, request membership in the Consilium group, a private Facebook group. Tell them Kel Rohlf sent you. Once you’re a member of that group, then you can request membership in the prayer room to share in the community there. I hope you join us, and I hope to have more of a presence again at the soulPantry, as I transition to the adventure of hanging out this summer with my nieces and nephews.

How are you handling the transition of the seasons?

 

“I will perpetuate your memory through all generations . . .” (Psalm 45:17a NIV)

“The events in our lives happen in a sequence in time, but in their significance to ourselves, they find their own order . . . the continuous thread of revelation.” (Eudora Welty)

I have been silent. But not really, just expressing my life through other venues. At the beginning of the year, I had an idea to write a novel. But that is a big undertaking, and I have been making excuses, and doing research and waiting for just the right inspiration to get started.

I typed the first sentence on the screen and it seemed awkward. I typed some more and then stopped. So today, I decided to create a world for my main character in the blogosphere. A safe place, where she can work on her memoir. To read more of her story, click over to the new home of the Cereal Bowl Series.

How is your writing life going? Are you creating anything? I’d love to catch up.

Kel

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled. (1 Corinthians 13:8-10 The Message)

Success follows me, wherever I go this year. Not because I am doing better than usual or have more wealth, but because I chose it. Success is my word for the year. My reflections on this word lead me to  it’s opposite term-failure. To understand or even fully experience success, I have noticed that failing is part of the deal. Failing and succeeding come through the experience of trial and error.

To define success, one must dig into the word succeed. To succeed means to achieve a desired result, to turn out well, to come after or to follow. (www.m-w.com)

Each nuance of meaning poses a question. What is my desired result? How will I know if it turns out well? What am I following? Is there a certain path for certain success? Maybe, I like this word because it has so much potential.

Success has so many faces, so many ways to be measured, and really only one way to be spelled. But I have noticed that without L-O-V-E, success fails to complete me. When I chose success as my guiding word, I was a bit surprised because it appears to have very little spiritual connotation. The first associations that come to mind are wealth and fame. But I am not really pursuing such things, I just want to do well in what has been set before me. I want to love my family and friends deeply and without regret. I desire to do my work, and help others find joy in their work. I do appreciate it when others notice me or applaud my efforts.

Success takes time. While I have been successful in some areas, others are neglected. The ebb and flow frustrates and fascinates me at the same time. On the outside my life looks fairly successful, and it is. It is unfolding nicely with lots of output and creativity and connections. But there still are nooks and crannies of my life that remain empty, and I long for fulfillment.

This is the first week in a few months that I have been able to slow down, to take a longer pause than the usual 10 seconds I grab here and there, as I go from place to place and from this obligation and to that recreation. And in these quiet moments, I wonder do I still want to be led by success? Yes, as long as love accompanies us. Because love never fails.

“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 4:7 ESV)

“Be strong and courageous.” (Joshua 1:9 NIV)

I have found that to take the risk of making something, whether planned or impromptu, takes courage and strength. Even as I am writing this guest post today for Three Way Light, for you, for Jody and even for myself, I feel a bit frightened. What if I don’t meet the expectations? What if I don’t make sense? What if people think maintaining a visual/art/creative journal practice is unnecessary?

I allow the questions to surface, and I wrestle with them. Then I think about all the times writing has helped me process such questions. And how when I don’t know what I want or even what to write, images and words from a magazine widen my perspective or reveal something I hadn’t even known I wanted to express yet.

To read the rest of this guest post, head on over to Jody’s place . . . Three Way Light!