Month: May 2019

 Your Ideas are Showing

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

In this age of trends, buzzwords and memes we Americans are eager to show what we believe in ways that often fail to think through what we are really saying. I recently saw a bumper sticker that read “Protect Abortion Rights-Don’t Criminalize Women.” The ideas, presuppositions, and implications in those six words are powerful. They reflect the zeitgeist of our time. I am distressed at the way we, as supposed “enlightened” and “educated” people, have succumbed to such shallow thinking, careless logic and complete moral blindness.

Let’s pull apart the thoughts in this bumper banner. The well-coifed and immaculately groomed driver of the upscale (and upsized) SUV is shouting at every driver and passerby what she believes. I daresay it is likely she has never thought through the implications of what she is saying.

The “right” to an abortion is a legal perversion of our time. When a child is conceived, sexual intercourse has taken place. With very rare exception (rape or incest) these interactions have been a CHOICE for the parties involved. Each partner has consented to an act in which human beings have engaged since the beginning of time with the full knowledge that the conception of a human child is a possible or even likely outcome.  Until very recently in human history the taking of the life of an unborn or newly born child was considered murder.  Our society has thrown off the “shackles” of admitting we live under the  Creator who has declared the taking of human life a heinous moral wrong.  (One of the 10 Commandments: Thou shalt not kill. Exodus 20:13) As a result our lowest, twisted moral selves have legally sanctioned self-indulgent and irresponsible behavior and even called the evil of murdering the weakest and most defenseless of us “good.”

The couple who CHOOSE to have sex which results in pregnancy can CHOOSE to carry the baby to term. Then, in a few days or months, if they find the baby is inconvenient or not perfect, they can CHOOSE to “terminate” it. “WAIT!” you cry. “That’s murder!” Yes. So what is the difference? What makes killing a baby who is 9 weeks from conception different from one that is 9 months and one hour from birth and one who is 9 years old? Absolutely nothing except time, nutrition and location.

from conception to natural death we are obliged to honor and preserve the life God has bestowed

We “enlightened” and “educated” people of the 21st century have taken leave of our sense. We have abandoned our God-given conscience regarding life and the moral imperative for its preservation.

Consider that bumper sticker: “Don’t Criminalize Women.” Why not? If a woman CHOOSES to murder her child, why not recognize she has committed a criminal act? She has violated what humans have known for millennia: the unborn child is a living human being. The “tissue” in a woman’s womb, from the moment egg and sperm unite, is a living being created in God’s image. That “unwanted” or “inconvenient” child did not CHOOSE to be conceived. We “already-born” “former fetuses” have the obligation to CHOOSE to care for those we conceive. Self-indulgence may run headlong into personal responsibility and “Adulting” may be hard, but there are so many resources and ways to deal with “mistakes” or “problems” that none has an excuse worthy of murder.

QUESTION: What do you believe? Are you giving thought to what is behind the clever saying you posted or “liked” on Facebook? Is it morally true?

Unlikely Beginnings

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey
The gardeni springing to life from unlikely beginnings

A few days ago I made an early morning wander through our yard and marveled at the tiny buds of lettuce and green beans bravely pushing above the brown earth. Amazing isn’t it, that plants and flowers emerge to full-blown beauty from seemingly insignificant, nearly invisible and unlikely beginnings.

Lettuce seeds are very small and completely camouflaged when they are dropped into waiting rows in the dirt. How can that wee bit of organic “crispy” yield such a huge, harvest of summer salad? And the carrot seeds- equally tiny, equally unpromising give us what Beloved Spouse, THE family gardener, calls a “tonnage crop.” We eat so many pounds of carrots all winter it is astonishing when compared to the few grams weight of seed that was planted.

And then consider the flower beds’ denizens. Iris, columbines, daisies, tulips, and hostas all withered and disappeared over the winter. The thumbs of flower beds poking into the matted brown remnants of lawn are punctuated only by gawky dead twigs of rose bushes. Shapeless mounds of rumpled brown and gray earth–tattered remains of last summer’s glory–seem unlikely to have any life, let alone beauty within. Then comes spring. Warmer days, sunshine and gentle rains bring the tiny signs of life from the barren clods. Tulip, iris and hosta nubbins poke up. Little green knobs declare that columbines and daisies are wakening to a new and glorious season. THE gardener, decked in warm jacket against the bite of early spring wind, has shoveled, hoed, raked and planted the rectangle of organic detritus into rows. Wee bits of life promised in seed-packet pictures have been deposited and now are marching in hopeful green rows. They are soldiering their way to vegetable profusion.

So it is with our lives. Often great accomplishments start in small, nearly invisible ways. Consider the small box Beloved Spouse has. It is a rough cardboard shipping container—with “garden stuff” written on one end with magic marker. It contains a big collection of seed packets: opened and unopened. Packets are dated from this year and several previous years’ plantings. The opened ones have made their way to the garden rows and the unopened ones linger in the box with “I’m not sure why I bought this variety” or “This is a great kind of cucumber- I don’t want to forget which kind I used.” Each packet contains hundreds of un-used possibilities. Similarly, our lives have many seeds of creative projects that we overlook, discard or deem unworthy of our time and effort.

I’m pondering several things as possible “new crops.” Calligraphy projects to letter, books to write, and quilts to make. The ideas are tiny and seem pretty un-promising just now. If I plant them into the days I have been given, water and tend the little seeds of inspiration, who knows what kind of yield I may see.

QUESTION: What project or plan is lying in your subconscious waiting to be planted?

Envelopes, Please!

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

Have you ever received a decorated envelope?

This week I have been making a fresh set of 14 decorated envelopes because I am the organizer of the annual Decorated Envelope Exchange for Write On Calligraphers. (http://writeoncalligraphers.org/) This calligraphy guild is in Western Washington and has members from all over the northern West Coast. The participants in the Decorated Envelope Exchange attend the annual Letters of Joy (LOJ) Calligraphy conference in early May. Some sign up to be part of the exchange of decorated envelopes over the months between conferences.

The concept is simple. The list of those who sign up to participate is organized into groups of 6 to 8 people per list. Over the year each person sends an envelope to each name on the list in which they are included. The envelopes can be simple or elaborate but each is a delightful work of art. Calligraphers especially seem to relish this creative opportunity. It is a fun way to share calligraphic skills and artistic inspiration.

I often use the stamp as a “jump-off” point for my designs.

                     The envelopes I sent in 2017 were based on stamps that showcased various Hispanic foods.

This year my envelopes are designed around the Post Office’s “scratch and sniff” stamps with 2 popsicles on each one.

This year, each envelope has a colored pencil drawing based on the popsicles on the stamps so no two envelopes are the same.

Check out the archived decorated envelope designs from those entered in the annual Graceful Envelope Contest. It is sponsored by the Washington (DC) Calligraphers Guild and the National Association of Letter Carriers. https://www.calligraphersguild.org/envelope.html  This year’s theme was “Put Your Stamp On It.” You can peruse several years of past entries and it is a really fascinating “eye candy” experience! I entered an envelope this year and am waiting to find out if it made it into the honorable mention column.

Another fun place to look at decorated envelopes is in Bound and Lettered magazine. (This magazine is a publication from John Neal Books. It is a supplier to calligraphy and bookmaking artists.) John Neal sponsored a contest last year in conjunction with the annual International Calligraphy Convention called “SeattLetters.” I entered an envelope with my design based on a stamp. It made the pages of Bound and Lettered.  Check out my envelope by scrolling down in the PDF here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.johnnealbooks.com/downloads/15-4pgs.pdf

I am a wild enthusiast of hand-lettered and decorated envelopes. It is a fun way to share my love of calligraphy and my art. It also lets my friends and family know how much I love them by making their names in “fancy” letters and painting or drawing something special just for them.

QUESTION: Who could you send a decorated envelope to? Are you brave enough to add a bit of artwork to the envelope of the birthday or graduation cared you are about to send off? Don’t you think your Mail Carrier will enjoy it (not to mention the Receiver-of-the-Envelope)?

On Waiting: Uncertainty and Anxiety

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

I’m waiting with my husband for the time he will be rolled into surgery. It has been a long and stressful morning of preparation for this procedure. Here he is, all scrubbed, poked and prepped for a big “event” (knee replacement, as it happens), but the actual surgery is more than an hour away. This flurry of action followed by a “wait” is unsettling. I feel off-balance. The whole situation makes me think of how our lives are made up of these experiences of hurry and rush followed by the uncertainty and anxiety of a “wait.”

Knowing that we were facing weeks of limited mobility following this surgery made the daily “to-do” list fairly long. But being busy kept the anxiety and uncertainty of the impending operation at bay. But now, sitting in this blank-walled, “other-world,” I have ample time for all sorts of “what ifs” to play out in my head. So—taking a deep breath, I am taking my thoughts in hand and bring them into captivity to Christ.

We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raise up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.  2 Corinthians 10:5b

What does Scripture say about waiting? About anxiety? About the outcome in store for me? Waiting for God is a command. He is the Holy Creator. I am a sinful creature. The vast difference between God and me is enough that I must lay my hand on my mouth in reverent silence and submission to Him and His plans.

The future is invisible to our finite eyes, but God sees. Trust Him.

God, the Eternal and Unchangeable One, is never late and never early. His plans are ripening exactly as He purposes and every second of my life, indeed all of human activity is completely under His control. He knows every aspect, every thought and action of every person. Nothing escapes His all-knowing gaze.

I am anxious about the outcome of this surgery. What if Beloved Spouse is crippled, ends up in a coma, or worse yet, were to die? The same truth regarding the power, wisdom and good purposes of God bring comfort. God knows all that will come. He loves me and assures me that everything that come to me is for my good.

What amazing comfort that God will work EVERYTHING to our best. He is so good!

He has told me that all that makes me anxious, causes me fear or prompts concern, should be cast on Him.

At our darkest times, God cares. Tell Him and He will shoulder your troubles.

He is the All-Powerful One. He is able to deal with anything that will come to me. He has promised His Holy Spirit will guide and direct me. The Word of promise to me is that He will provide all I need. So, as I wait, my thoughts are quieted before my wonderful loving Heavenly Father. He has made me His child by His Son, Jesus.

God loves me! Remember the Sunday school song, “Jesus Loves Me.”? It is true. “The Bible tells me so.”

His love and concern for me are vast and eternal.  The eternal God is a dwelling place and underneath are the everlasting arms.     Deuteronomy 33: 27a

I am able to relax. I am able to wait. The tides of uncertainty may swirl but I can rest and wait in perfect quietness and confidence. God has it all in hand.

QUESTION: What are you waiting for? Does God’s power, sovereignty and love for you help you obediently wait?

P.S. I wrote this post last week and then after I finished writing it, I found this quote today in the daily devotional book Beloved Spouse and I read together each morning. There is a passage of Scripture to read, a very helpful article explaining it and then as a sidebar called Coram Deo (Living before the face of God). This is the quote from May 10.

God offered David many specific encouragements when he was on the run from Saul. The Lord continues to encourage His people today through His Word, which assures us of God’s presence and power. When you need fresh assurance that the Lord is with you, turn to His Word, for its promises of God’s presence, power, and provision are sure.

The magazine is called Tabletalk. It is a monthly publication of Ligonier Ministries. Find it by going to: tabletalkmagazine.com. The subscription cost is quite modest and well worth the getting. They are willing to send you a sample copy if you request it.

AND… God is healing Beloved Spouse very quickly. Praise God!

A piece of calligraphy I did trying to use the lessons in the uncial alphabet and the lesson on how to create Celtic knots.