Living Proof

I have been meaning to post this picture all summer.  Ally is towards the back, near Meredith. I’ve thought about all the images that each person has of that night.  It brought to mind a sculptor named Nam June Paik. He worked with multiple T.V. images long before it became the norm.

I had planned on helping out the LP students this summer but life stepped in and I needed to move my father out of the home he had lived in for 51 years. It was my childhood home, filled with many memories. It was intense but we finally finished. Last night I had a dream that some LP students came to visit us at the house. They gathered in the room that my mother used to paint in.  As more students came the room just got bigger.  Some dreams become treasures and that will be one of them.

Job 33

Job 33:3

Answer me, if you can;

set your words in order before me;

take your stand.

Reflection: When I read this verse a memory came back to me. I must have been 12 or so. I was on a field trip to the beach. As we sat in the high back seats waiting for everyone to board the bus I looked out and saw this woman starting to scream at a young child. When she moved to hit the him something in me clicked and I yelled out the window for her to stop. As the bus pulled out she glared at me. When I sat down I saw the looks of shock on my friends faces, I was always the quiet one.

I’ve listened several times to an interview of Kay Warren that was recorded at Gorden College last year. She just wrote a book “Dangerous Surrender”.  Her voice is so true and went straight to my heart. She spoke of reading a magazine one day, an article about aids in Africa and it struck her that millions are dying and she didn’t know one name. She spoke of being the voice for children, for those who have no voice. She has taken a stand. I know I have to read her book and learn more. This disease is everywhere.  It took the life of my brother-in-law, Steven, when he was just a young man.

Prayer: Help me to listen and hear.

Job 34

Job 34:3

for the ear tests words as the palate tastes food.

Reflection: This reminds me of my young students. They are learning that the tone, how words are spoken, can say as much as the word being used. It is usually the tone of the voice that catches my attention first. “Everything is OK” sometimes said with a sadness that lets me know that person is aching, sometimes said with frustration and I know that person needs to be heard.

prayer: Please help me grow as a listener to others.

Job 32

Job 32:19

Verse: Behold, my heart is like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins, it is ready to burst.

Reflection: This verse reminds me of my youngest students. When my first graders come in to discuss the art lesson before we begin there is frequently someone who just has to tell me some thing, even their hair is saying “please call on me”. Some times I’ll just look at them and nod and and their thoughts come spilling out.

The verse also reminds me of those special people that really listen to what you are saying. Their minds are not filling with responses. They are absorbing your words. I’m constantly encouraging myself to grow as a listener. When it works it is like a beautiful dance of words and silence.

Prayer: Please help me to grow as a listener; to savor the words being spoken to me.