October 2016 meeting of The Maker's Space

The October meeting of The Maker’s Space focused on Orientation of the O-O-D-A-loop concept for changing behavior and intentionally living a more creative life.  Last month, we talked about Observation outwardly of God’s creation, and inwardly, our heart rooms and the doors to our hearts.  This month we talked about orientating ourselves to the situation that we find ourselves.  On a deeper level, to Whom to we belong?

Psalm 139:13-14  Eph. 2:10 You belong.  To whom? We all ask that question.  "Loneliness is one of the most universal human experiences and is among the worst of human sufferings." [ Henry Nowen] Most of us know that feeling of being alone, isolated.  It’s not the same as choosing to be alone once in a while, or being independent at times.  It’s the feeling that now one is near, that no one remembers, that no one cares for my soul. Ps. 142:4 that there is no one to live for.  It’s a feeling of deep isolation, of not belonging to anyone.  “To whom?” becomes our lonely cry of distress and longing.  God hears that question.  So what we do at such times is very important for our spiritual as well as for our emotional growth.  We can try to escape the loneliness by working harder, overtime, by reading a book, by eating or drinking things that we shouldn’t…even all these things will not release us from our loneliness.  If we stay with that loneliness a little while and become aware of life at a deeper level, we might hear God’s gentle voice reassure us, “You do belong---to me,”

“To whom?” is a cry God can both hear and answer.  In fact, God is waiting to answer, as a loving parent waits with open arms for a child who has left home. Who knows the story of the prodigal son?  The is a homecoming for us all because there is a home.   Belonging means we have an address, a place where we are at home.  We belong to god and God will not let us go as others might  That belonging is more lasting, more constant, more loving than any belonging that job, school, club, church, friends, or even family can provide. “He made us, we belong to him” Ps. 100:3  We are as precious to God as a portrait is to the artist who painted it.  “Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. 8:38-9  We are addressed by God, and we have an address, a place, with God.  That means that we are never isolated.  We live constantly in the gracious covenantal presence of God.  Knowing that does not solve all our problems, but it can give us a perspective on loneliness.  It can help us understand that we do not have to be greedy for attention as a solution to loneliness, we do not have to cling to people for our identity.  We get our identity from God.   Once we understand that, we should also understand that we no longer have to avoid being alone.  In fact, we might want to look for times to be alone so we can be with God, so that we can create a space to be aware of our relationship with God, so that we can be reminded that God makes a space for us and that we live continuously in God’s gracious presence.  We may be able slowly to convert our aloneness from a depressing loneliness into a deep solitude: a precious, fearless space where we are aware that we belong to God.  This sense of belonging is the beginning of any understanding and experience of spirituality and prayer.

3.         Metaphors

Give me an example of a metaphor.  Jesus spoke in metaphors in almost everything that He said.  Give me an example.  Metaphor gets us out of our normal thinking patterns and shakes those dormant synapses in our brains by drawing us into relationship with a concept.  It is opening us to a new thought. 

How is God singing through you?  How is He shaping you as a work of art? The old Testament speaks in metaphors too. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.  Is. 64:8  Psalm 139:14-16

Close your eyes now and take a deep breath.  Meditate on the two passages that were just read.  You are the work of his hand.  His works are wonderful, you know that full well.  Now invite your imagination to be available to a new thought;  imagine your life as a work of art.  Are you a movie, a book, a painting, a symphony?  Are you a story, poem, ballet, tapestry or photograph?  How is God singing through you, expressing himself to the world?

 Imagining God as a potter---Is it easy for him to mold you or is he having to work the clay?  How is he shaping you as a work of art right now?  What does it look like to be a wonderful work of God’s hands?

Express yourself  of the work of art that you are by either drawing or writing your shape as a pot or not…{We have orientated ourselves as a work of art by God the ultimate artist}  SHARE

More Pictures can be found on www.facebook.com/2013TMS

In Jesus Calling by Sarah Young for October 27, it says,
"Many people are so preoccupied with future plans and decisions that they fail to see choices they need to make today.  Without any conscious awareness, they make their habitual responses.  People who live this way find a dullness creeping into their lives.  They sleepwalk through their days, following well-worn paths of routine.  I, the Creator of the universe, am the most creative Being imaginable.  I will not leave you circling in deeply rutted paths.  Instead, I will lead you alone free trails of adventure, revealing to you things you did not know.  Stay in communication with Me.  Follow My guiding Presence."

This is what we are trying to discover in The Maker's Space.  Living creatively, is not following the same paths, but making new choices many times during your day.  How can you add more adventure and creativity?  Stop and think, before your next decision.  Is it the same old choice, or is it a new choice that is intentional and perhaps more beautiful? That is risk-taking, even though it might not be scary.  Stay tuned for next month....November 28...Collage