Trapeze Artist

Yesterday I was feeling pretty unsure of myself. And then a picture came to me. I feel like a trapeze artist in training. I'm gripping onto this silly bar and it's all that keeps me from falling. And yet, to connect with the guy swinging on the other ropes, I'm going to have to let go. If I can get up the courage to let go, I'm going to experience great freedom and the joy of FLYING! If not, I'll just keep swinging back and forth, going nowhere. At this point I don't think there is any turning back...I can't seem to get back to the platform from here.

So what is it I'm clinging to? looking good, being "competent." What am I afraid of? failure, not getting people's approval...

And the great Trainer is saying to me, "Trust me!"

But the "what ifs" loom in my mind."What if I let go and 1) I can't connect with the other "flyer", 2) I fall to the net (and look stupid!), or 3) (the most scary of possibilities) I fall and someone forgot to put the net up?!"

And the great Trainer says, "I got ya. I'll catch up. I'll teach you when and where to let go. I'll show you. I've done this a million times."

Will I let go?

(Backdrops in the above photos painted by Mary Beth Holladay)

Wow, who would've thought this 40'something woman would again be on stage. It sure has been fun. What a privilege to be working with a bunch of young, talented actors. Thanks, Lord.

Thank you, Leah, for your brilliant idea years ago. Thanks, Katherine, for years of work which you have committed to this project. Thanks, Michele, for sharing your creativity with us.

Candlelight Dinner 2006. Soli Deo Gloria.

Candlelight Dinner

Thought you'd like to see some of the "sets" from the Candlelight Dinner. The amazing artist of these beauties is Mary Beth Holladay.


These are painted in "August Macke" style (a famous German painter)


They are of existing buildings here in Kandern.


Fun scenery to be acting in!

Quote of the Day

I've started posting a "quote" on the board outside my office door. It's been fun to get people's responses to my posting. So, I thought I'd carry that over to this medium, and until I can get up the creativity to write some of my own "quotables" for this blog..I want to share from a book I'm reading, "Total Truth" by Nancy Pearcey.

Having been awakened, some years ago, to the idea of how we live for our desires (good or bad) I was struck by this line,

"As we undergo refining in the fires of suffering, our desires are purified and we find ourselves wanting nothing more than to bend every fiber of our being, including our mental powers, to full the Lord's Prayers: 'Thy Kingdom come.' We yearn to lay all our talents and gifts at His feet in order to advance His purposes in our world."

I certainly wouldn't say I'm going through "fires of suffering" (more like fires of waiting), but nonetheless these last months have been a time of refining. I'm not there yet (at the place where I have laid down all my talents and gifts) but God is definitely drawing me.

The other quote from Mrs. Pearcey is:
"We must be willing to sit at the feet of Jesus and be taught by Him, as Mary of Bethany did, realizing that only "one thing is necessary" (Luke 10:42)."

I'm having the hardest time with this part of the process!!

"Given our fallen human nature, we typically do not really sit before the Lord until our legs are knocked out from under us by crises--sorrow, loss, or injustice. It is only when stripped of our personal dreams and ambitions that we truly die to our own agendas. Union with Christ in His death and resurrection is the only path to sanctification of both heart and mind--to being conformed to the likeness of Christ."

Knock away, Lord!

So, those are my thoughts...