Things have been a bit more chaotic than average around here lately.
All the activity that went along with finishing my Intentional Creativity Teacher certificate felt chaotic in the sorting and labeling and ordering, never mind the tech stuff that was way beyond my abilities. Kind of like book deadlines but with so many more moving parts!
CODEX painting process challenges. Not to mention the logistical challenge of really, really big canvases.
A wonderful trip to celebrate with our kids for Thanksgiving.
Considerable time hanging with Phoebe at the vet.
Lots more painting, which is fresh air in the midst of the chaos, and more than a bit of studio revision, which is a hassle but has left more space in the middle of the room so Luther is more comfortable. He’s not such a fan of having all the furniture on wheels!
Then there was all the learning involved in getting ready for my first artist market — which was awesome — and a bit of recovery time.
The last two days have been about trying to straighten things — including my back — back out. I keep hearing the thundering voice of Dr. Walter Brueggemann in my head, proclaiming that, “Our God is a God who makes order out of chaos”
Talk about tempting theology!
And yet, there’s also my growing realization that chaos is, as virtually everything is, a matter of perspective.
We might suppose that our personal recent chaos has been of the first world variety and that is, in some sense, true. And yet devastating wildfires and hurricanes happen in the first world and leave chaos in their wake. Shootings happen in first world cities and so does cancer and Alzheimer’s and politics reeking of power and vested self-interest.
All of which has left me wondering if healing chaos might be at least as much about having choices as it is about making order.
And not only having choices, but claiming those choices.
One of those choices is broadening our perspective. Looking beyond the ends of our own noses, even when it’s hard, and allowing ourselves to see that there is order, and sometimes great beauty, in that which looks and feels totally random.
Granted, it may take a while. And considerable practice. I’ve been working on it.
Today, I made a new friend. Both of us, in some senses, more than a bit random in the community we share.
We began with tea. And images. And stories. We did a bit of dreaming out loud.
And then we made some prayer dots. And told a few more stories. And made some more dots.
You’ve already figured out that they were prayer dots for peace.
Peace in the midst of chaos.
It will probably take a while longer. And some of her dots were probably different than some of mine.
But we’re closer than we were. Closer to peace.
Which feels like a really good day’s work.
And my back is looser than it was.