Women of God

Art by J. Kirk Richards

"Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity."
                                                                                 ~Margaret Nadauld

*Christ Teaching Mary and Martha*

Favorite rebuking in the scriptures time!

Are you familiar with the story of Mary and Martha? They were sisters (you may remember their brother Lazarus...) and their whole family seems to have been pretty close with Jesus. One evening while Christ was teaching at their home Martha was preparing food, or perhaps cleaning, making preparations so that everyone would be comfortable. I think she was probably the ultimate biblical homemaker. I can imagine her frustration that her sister Mary was not helping but instead sitting there with the Savior listening to Him teach.

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 He said to her, "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." (found in Luke)

It's important to take care of a nice house and prepare food for those staying at the house, but Christ taught an important lesson to Martha that she should follow the example of her sister and put the things of the Lord first.

Sometimes I'm such a Martha. I read a great blog post the other day by Anne and I was really inspired by her sacrifice of fun design-idea blogs so she could put her focus more on her family.

*Lilies and Paint Splotches*

I had a picture of Mary Magdalene scheduled for today. And I wrote out a whole long description of what the word hope means to me. And then I felt super preachy. And I deleted it. I'm replacing it with something much more personal that I really do love! My absolute favorite artist of all time is Claude Monet.

Close up his paintings are just sloppy brush strokes,

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but when looked at from a distance I'm almost afraid that the water might pour off of the canvas and into the room.

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Here's my mini application to life. When I look close up at small daily parts of life it may seem like everything is just little messy brush strokes. Once I take a second to back up and look at the whole thing with an eternal perspective my tiny brush strokes have added up to make a majestic wonderful work of art!

So, today may feel like just a brush stroke, but its a dab of paint that has to be put onto my giant life masterpiece!

In other news, here are the cupcakes that Elders Lund, Dallof, and Davis made for me for my birthday that inspired me to change the painting of the day!

*My Peace I Give Unto You*

This painting is so unique. I just adore it! In fact it was on the cover of my daily planner for 6 weeks. The title comes from the scripture John 14:27 . I find so much peace in studying the scriptures. In fact, when our alarm goes off at 9 AM to finish up our hour of personal study time and begin companionship study I just want to keep going!

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Just enjoy the simplicity of this work and take some extra time today to find lasting peace in the scriptures.

*Lord, Save Me*

The first time I saw this painting was 4 months ago when I was at the MTC (Missionary Training Center).  Three weeks before that I had gone to a singles conference in Medford, OR where we went to the temple, had a few workshops to choose from, a service project, and of course dinner and a dance!

One of the classes that I chose was about scripture study and really understanding the doctrine behind the stories in the scriptures. A passage that we focused on during the class was that of Peter walking on water to Christ. Click HERE to read the passage of scripture depicted in this painting.

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 What I find most fascinating is that we are usually quick to judge Peter and think that this story is about him losing his faith. I think I was in that same boat (har har. lame pun NOT intended) until I went to that workshop in Oregon. The instructor asked us to reread verses 31 and 32. Um, how did they get back into the boat? That part of the story is left out! I believe that Peter, after looking up at the Savior and recognizing the need for his direct focus on Him, walked arm and arm back to the ship with Christ.

Think on that a while!

*First Blossom*

I had to start the week of art off with this painting for a few reasons. One is that it is my FAVORITE that I'll be sharing and well, today is my birthday! So of course the best things must be shown!

I was so excited to find out that this painting, First Blossom by Annie Henrie was displayed at BYU as a piece in the artist's BFA portfolio. On the website about the gallery display shared her short description of her work.



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"This painting is about new life, and the process of regeneration, and how on spiritual, physical, and emotional planes we experience death and rebirth. This painting focuses on the wonder of that rebirth, and the miracle it is to be able to begin again."

I saw different significance in this painting. When I look at this I see myself with two of my sisters. I am the one on the left, S is in the middle, and R is on the right. I feel at peace looking at this painting and perhaps the blossom that we are gazing upon is symbolic of the joy found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Something about this image just makes me smile! I can't help myself!

*Art Series Time!*

I've been rifling through a pile of Ensign magazines from hmmm...about 1991-1994 and amid the great articles from the General Authorities of the church and inspiring stories written by members (and awfully funny poems) I have found some artwork that I just love!
So here is what you have to look forward to for the upcoming week:

One painting a day that I find inspirational, uplifting, or otherwise spiritually wonderful as pertaining to the 13th Article of Faith,

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I sure hope you're excited because I've just been bursting at the seams to share some of these!!!

The Desire to Create

I want you to watch this video before you get into the goodness that is this blog post

(I deleted the video and just made a link to it because it was on autoplay. Annoying. Uplifting yes, but still a bit annoying.)

Ah! Are you just so inspired now to go out into the world and create something?? One thing that was the biggest sacrifice for me to serve a mission is that I gave up my craft time. It may sound like a frivolous thing but its been pretty hard for me. I minored in Clothing Construction in college, worked in a quilt shop for 8 months, and then sewed every day after work for 5 more months and that brings us up to this point! I was worried that I would be heartbroken and lost without my hands working on a project.

I have found that service has filled my heart in those places that I thought would be void.

But every now and then it's great to get my hands in the glue, paint, and thread!

Here is what Camilla and I did yesterday!

We got the idea from Elsie's blog and scoured Goodwill for some well loved art prints in decently priced frames. And by decently priced I mean $2.50. YES! 

Here we are in the crafting stages. The lyrics on mine come from the song Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Camilla's are from the children's song Love One Another.

Ready to attack those things with spray paint!!

I don't know if I can put into words just how happy it made me to create some things yesterday (I also found the dress that I'm wearing in these pictures at the Goodwill and altered it!).  Hopefully this little wall piece that I've made will bless someone's life because it's going to be too bulky to pack around with me. That's really the greatest part of creativity to me, the blessing that my talent can be for other people. 

Right now the talent that I am developing is opening my mouth to share the gospel of Jesus Christ! It's one that requires complete focus and attention and I am grateful for the chance that I have every day to share what I know with the people around me. I have been so blessed to spend time here in Kentucky getting to know my brothers and sisters that I never would have met unless I had come out here to serve them!

Worth of a Soul

Sister Warwood and I cleaned out the bookshelf in our front room the other day and we found some small cards with pictures of Christ at different points in His ministry. It's interesting to me how depictions of Jesus Christ are so personal. I didn't feel a connection with the represention of Jesus on those cards, but I knew they were nice so I left them on the shelf for someone else to find and enjoy.

This painting, Worth of a Soul by Liz Lemon Swindle is one of my absolute favorite images of Christ. I like it for a few reasons. One is that it is tranquil and calm. There is so much turmoil in the world and I know that the Savior suffered for every pain of every individual. He is there to succor us in our afflictions.  I love how innocent children are, and we are all admonished to become like little children and put off the "natural man" to become like Christ. Mosiah 3:18

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I am also drawn to Byzantine icons of the Savior.  My love for this artwork stemmed from a class I took in college titled Spirituality in Art.  These likenesses of Christ are not intended to soften the heart and do not in any way reflect that "Jesus is my homeboy" attitude (I really don't like that phrase). These illustrations of the Savoir remind me that Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God. They bring reverence to Him.

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I know that having representations of Christ in my home and around me in life are essential as reminders to be like Him.  What are some of your favorite portrayals of our Redeemer?