Sharing and a Little Link Love

Occasionally, your path crosses with someone who just blesses your socks off and blows you away with how much better your life is because they are in it. I'm so grateful for so many connections and this is one.

Truly, I didn't even know I needed these people and what they've shared with me in the months since we've met.

I'd like to introduce you, via link love, to

Vivian, The Bohemian Mama and her talented Husband, Brian.

So, this past week, Vivian shared on her instagram account, @the_bohemian_mama ,

a little nugget of valuable knowledge that really helped me. It didn't take long and it was just an authentic moment of sharing.

I was so inspired and it sparked a conversation with her and we discussed how amazing it would be to start a movement #shareyourknowledge.

So, how it works.....Vivian shared a wonderful piece of information where she showed how she makes her own vanilla extract as well as a wonderful natural anti-inflammatory that you can use and how it can improve your daily life! A little nugget of knowledge can be such a boost for one who needs that. THEN, She challenged a few creative friends that she knows and trusts to share a bit of knowledge that they have to give. They tag her and challenge a few friends at well and it all gets shared with #shareyourknowledge

Isn't it so special, especially in these times that separate us physically, how we have the ability to reach out and share and stay connected.

Many of you are so wise, have so much goodness to share, and can literally improve the daily lives of those you're connected to, by just giving away knowledge.

"We are given knowledge so we can share it".

These words were what inspired this whole thing!

The challenge for me got real when I thought "What a fab idea!!!....wait, what am I jazzed about? What do I share?

So, I thought about so many at home, feeling the creative tug and not being able to get supplies. It took me back to the days, when I felt that pull to create. A young stay at home Mom, I didn't have the bucks or list of supplies, or a way to get them. I wanted so badly to make a mark!!!!

I created my own supplies!...Yes...paints! 30 years ago before Pinterest or the Internet, there was Martha Stewart and an article on dying Easter eggs with onion skins. She dropped a little knowledge on a young Mom and some painted papers were born!

I'll do a #shareyourknowledge blog here soon, but you can see the original video on the highlights at the top of my instagram Account @tinalawvercreative

I'd love for you to visit and see it!

It was fun to share how you can create watercolor inspired stains and paints, from household items, and use them on paper to create a beautiful design you can use for a little piece of art to frame or a unique piece you can write an encouraging note on and send to someone who may need it right now.

When it comes down to it, we all have something of value to share. By receiving from someone's sharing or being challenged to be the sharer...either way, we grow.

Stop back for a more detailed blog on this project.

Blessings, Tina

Relationally Speaking

I popped down the stairs this morning into the gallery, which is also the downstairs of our home, and was struck by this series that I painted over a year ago.

(top) "Contemplate", the single soul in deep thought and alone.

(middle) "Chat" the 2 little birds going back and forth about whatever, exchanging ideas, stories, laughs.

And then there is...

(bottom) "Conference" where wisdom of a counsel seeks to add confidence to a decision or life changing moment.

Oh how conversation has changed, but what has not changed is our need for conversation and relationships right now. Seriously, this season is challenging, strengthening, revealing, even defining relationships.

Whether working from home, homeschooling kiddos, being an "essential" worker, both spouses home more (or away more).....there certainly has been a major shift in how most of us are spending our time and how we are communicating with each other and ourselves.

So, how's it going for you? I have to say that I have, in these past few weeks, witnessed some things that I cannot help but take note of.

Although, I enjoy my alone time and ruling over my own space, I must admit that there have been times of sadness as I'm missing hugging those beautiful Grandbabies of ours and seeing our family. This social distancing, though I truly believe it flattens the curve as they say, has had an effect on perspective on our relationships for sure.

There are certain needs we creations crave....one being community.

To know and to be known is built into our dna. To love, to be loved and to express that love is such a part of us and effects our overall health as well. We were built for relationship and the giving and receiving of community looks a bit different than it did just a few short weeks ago.

So, that's where we are. Not as we were before.....and, I believe, when we emerge from this, we'll never be the same again.

On the other side of this, if we allow it, we could rise wiser, with new perspective, and living the abundant life that we were created to live.

We, in our isolation, are realizing the value of a family dinner when we can't have one, meeting friends for lunch out when all the cute spots we enjoy have to be closed,and popping over to play with the Grands means waiting for a sunny day, standing six feet away, blowing kisses and giving ghost hugs. Daily trips to get groceries, post a letter, or get a coffee have become more of a thing one plans for and weigh the value of instead of just a thing we mindlessly do.

We're also awakened to how communicating through technology can never be as rich as a human touch and face to face conversation.

And, of course, all of the people in hospitals and nursing homes separated from loved ones, not to mention all the health care workers in all areas.

There's nothing like experiencing the way things ARE to make us have an appreciation for how things COULD BE.

Some mourn the past, longing for how it was and that's ok for a season. Some live in the present and are whiney, fearful, or grateful. Some look ahead so much that they miss the opportunity that is here now that can make the future better.

I suppose we all choose to live this out in our own ways.

Though it is not worth even one human life lost to an invisible killer virus, could it be that in the midst of all this, we have the opportunity to course correct our own life? I mean have we ever experienced anything that has caused such a shaking of relationships and communication?

I've been asking myself if I really want to emerge from this and go back to who I was and how I viewed relationships before. I'm not sure I could revert back if I wanted to. I hear so many saying they can't wait until we get "back to normal".

Everything seems very new to me and I'm not sure that old patterns will even be effective as we move forward in community and that could be a very good thing.

"Legacy"

So many thoughts in my studio time seem to be consumed with the theme of family and the importance and the impact each member's role is in the life of a child.

As one who grew up in a Fatherless home, I and my sisters felt the ripple effect as we were left to ride what became stormy waves. Our Father moved on to create a new family, Our Mother left to just figure it out and build a seaworthy home in which we could weather the storms that were ahead. Her choices, in the midst of her own storm, often made the journey challenging all the more.

The air in our home was always, even when the "family unit" was "in tact", filled with a thick fog of discontentment that we all sensed, the winds picked up destructive power when the parents let go of each other's hands for the final time.

As a woman, in her mid 50's, I've been reflecting on how I fought in my 20's with fear and insecurity. In my 30's, broken and raising 2 children and learning to love and be a wife...when I sought healing with a therapist and really worked hard... body, mind, and spirit. In my 40's, when the truth that I'll never have all the answers on this side of heaven set in and now, as I sit here today writing this blog, with a deeper knowing that our roles, our commitments, our faithfulness, our "Yes" ...all have eternal impact. The same is true of our dropping the ball, our betrayals, and the effects of our "No". Also an awareness that my choices in those days caused ripples of their own. I thank God for His grace in reflection.

I believe that an artist cannot help but impart what is going on in the heart at that moment. It ends up on the canvas.

And so..."Legacy" is the result.

I see families in turmoil, hearts broken, lives changed, realities shifted, and legacy impacted by seeking our own self satisfaction in a moment.

There's very little eternal perspective on today's action, but the truth that today's choices are eternal never changes.

I wonder if we see the opportunities in these days.

As we, in this particular season, are facing a crisis of a virus, a pandemic no one saw coming, many are home with their children, homeschooling for the first time and facing new challenges working from home. Some have lost jobs, some have to work because they are deemed essential. Some see the impact of this moment and count their blessings and bless others.... Some have become hoarders of toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Choices look very different in this new perspective and character is revealed.

I pray we, in this season, are blessed with an awareness...a super heightened awareness...that this moment is a word on a page in the book of our lives that our children and grandchildren read. It's the prologue to their story just as the lives of those before us are.

It can be a navigation to help them weather life's inevitable storms. Were you faithful?, Did you trust God when you were shaken?, Did you say Yes and stay the course?, Was there joy?, Were you fully present?, Will they know that they were worth it?, Were we humble?, Did we repent and ask for forgiveness?, Did we choose a new way?,

Did we lift others before ourselves? Will we look back, smile and be grateful or will we need to overcome the experience?

The truth is that...Our destiny is built on our today.

May we be fully awake and aware and may our choices today be legacy focused.