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Archive for March, 2019

Art is Life

Art IS Life

Bless the artists who
Enrich our lives with meaning
Far beyond our eyes.

They see far more than
Our limited vision does.
God bless our artists!

Today our Ennis Arts Asociation met at one of the art display and sales stores right here in our little town of less than 1000 residents – in the gallery called “Artists on Main.”

Artists on Main

My sub-title here on Jan Beek is “Love One Another.” We show our love in so many ways. One of them is through our respect for one another’s artistic expression… another is through our love of hospitality. Read on to see our very sincere invitation.

Carol's elk

Today the Ennis Arts Association featured a session on Pottery. Folks like me, who have no experience in the workings of clay and wheels and all that jargon, went to see how it’s done – start to finish.

My friend, Carol Clarkson, who runs the Artists on Main Gallery showed us how she takes the various parts that she formed the day before and puts them together to make a teapot.

Carol Clarkson 2

Look up there on the right, and you will see the basic pot, its lid, and potential spouts.

Carol Clarkson 3

She put them together for a teapot that has such character!
I can hardly wait to see it fired and painted and glazed and ready as a finish product.

 

Our second potter, Sherry Jarvis, demonstrated her skills on the potters wheel. She creates bowls, vases, ornaments, and free-form items that are as enchanting as she is.

 

Sherry Jarvis 4

Working with clay is just one form of art that entices the visitors to visit our little town’s Artists on Main shop. You will find many items to encourage you if you come to Ennis. And when you do so, be sure to look us (the Beekmans) up.

The gallery has such an eclectic collection.
Come and see!

watercolor bird

 

pheasant

 

Horse - Paint
The painitngs are beautiful and varied.

Leather Journals
The leather journals are inviting.

 

wooden bowls
I love the assortment of wooden bowls and spoons that are each unique and beautiful.

Spoons & Bow;

Stained glass

Stained glass decorate the front window
as well as colorful
stained glass paintings that appear as collages

Stained glass painting

Ennis, Montana has at least five art galleries
showcasing art from creative Montana artists… and beyond.
You need to come and visit our quaint little town!

Bob & I have a spot here that welcomes friends unconditionally.

Hospitality is one of my spiritual gifts. You’d feel welcome in our home because you are one of my WordPress friends. We have a lot in common – and I would love to get to know you on a face-to-face basis.

We are only an hour from Yellowstone National Park.
You could use our home as “home base” as you travel to see this amazing site:

boiling liquid condensation geology geothermal

Photo by Kerry on Pexels.com

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You’ll be inspired to create art -written and visual arts –
based on the sites you see in our Montana wonderland.

Art is Life.
Come and experience it with us!
Write us at our e-mail address:
bobjanbeek@icloud.com
Put in the title of the e-mail these code words:
WordPress.MT.Visit.Art is Life!

Tell us when you’d like to come.


Are you up for it??

 

 

Category:

Haiku, Love, Montana, nature, Travel

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Acrostic Sermon Notes

Happy Sunday, my friends.

Did you go to church (or synagogue or temple or mosque) this morning?

Did you take time to worship God and hang out with your friends?

We did!

round stained glass

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

And, as usual,
I took my sermon notes in poetry as I listened to
Rev. Jean Johnson deliver her sermon
at Madison Valley Presbyterian Church.

The bulletin was so full of the picture on the front and print on the inside that there was little room for note-taking. So, I used the margins and wrote the main ideas vertically. Then I used those letters/words to create acrostics. Here are the words:

Reconciling The World

Love, Learn and Live Faithfully

Share, Restore and Believe

Now, as I listened, those words fleshed out the message for today:

R ejoice
E veryone!
C hrist
O versees the
N ations!
C hrist
I s
L iving
I n us
N ow; our
G od
T eaches us
H is Love.
E veryone in the
W orld
O wes their
R ejoicing to the
L ord who
D elivers us.

L ive
O nly in
V ictory,
E veryone!

L ive in
E nlightenment
A nd
R eceive
N ewness.

L earn with
I ntent to
V enture out
E verywhere.

F ill
A ll
I njuries with
T he
H ealing
F reedom of God
U ntil there is
L imitless
L ove in
Y ou.

S hare
H is
A wesome
R epairs
E arnestly.

R ealize
E veryone’s
S piritual Life
T hrough
O ur
R ecognized
E ternal gifts.

B ecause we can’t
E arn Eternal
L ife; accept His
I ntervention.
E njoy renewed
V itality –
E specially now.

Amen!

-If you attended a worship service today
what was the message you came away with ?

Category:

Bible Lessons, Faith, God, Jesus, Love

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Don’t Wait ’til it’s Too Late!

red rose

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

 

If you have roses, bless your soul,

Just pin one on my buttonhole

While I’m alive and well – today;

Don’t wait until  I’ve gone away.

 

selective focus photo of red rose

Photo by Hassan OUAJBIR on Pexels.com

 

Don’t tell the folks I was a saint

Or any old thing that I ain’t.

If you have jam like that to spread,

Please pass it out before I’m dead.

 

selective focus photograph of strawberry jam crepe cake

Photo by Adam Kontor on Pexels.com

 

That poem was one of several posted on a piece of cardboard

inside my mom’s kitchen cabinet door. She created the collection

in 1937 from poems posted weekly in the local newspaper.

I have it inside my kitchen cabinet now.

The poet, unknown, went on to write:

 

Don’t go and buy a large bouquet

For which you find it hard to pay.

Don’t mope around and feel all blue –

I may be better off than you.

roses bridal bouquet

Photo by Kaboompics .com on Pexels.com

 

My mom had that poem memorized. She recited it often.

I am grateful for her love of poetry.  She passed it on to me.

I told you in a post this week that my sister (age 82) is suffering from Alzheimer’s.

I was thinking of this poem today as I visited a friend in the hospital,

and as I wrote a card to my sis. I included a collage of pictures from our childhood.

Her short-term memory may be fading, but her long-term memory is intact.

Here is a sampling of some of the photos I included:

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She’s on the left. That’s me on the right. We were in junior high here, I think.

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Sally was all dolled up for her senior prom.

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I’m in red (still my favorite color) and pregnant with our first child.

Sally is in black with her husband and their oldest daughter.

That’s our Dad and Mom in the front (you figured that out!)

 

Sometimes a collage of old photos is even better than

pinning a rose on your buttonhole, don’t you think?

 

Just whatever you plan to do, do it!

Don’t wait ’til it’s too late!

Category:

Family, flowers, Giving, health, Life and Death, Love, Memories, Sharing

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What’s Your Next Step?

image

It’s easy to get caught up

In the  ABBAABBA  CDECDE

Rhyme Scheme and Rhythm

Of the Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet

That I have written below.

 

Petrarchan is fun!

white high raise building

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

 

I chose the Italian Sonnet as an exercise today

Because I do love Italy!

My maiden name is DeAngeles, afterall …

“Of Angels” – always seeking higher ground!

I remember a “step to higher ground”

My husband and I took a few years ago:

To this beautiful city of Venice …

A step out of reality

Into a dream world

Where only the blessed tourists and

The residents struggling to make

A livelihood seemed to venture out.

Here’s my step into the higher ground of poetry,

Trying my hand at a Petrarchan:

 


What’s Your Next Step?

A text from a friend of more than fifty years:

“What’s your next step?” she wrote to ask.

I’m retired, I thought, find sunshine in which to bask.

But, though she’s my age, I sensed some tears,

And figured she’d missed some steps in her latter years.

I wondered if she had some sort of task,

A favor perhaps, but her question was a mask,

Designed to seek help while hiding her fears.

selective focus photography of person wearing mask

Photo by fotografierende on Pexels.com

So I waited awhile to send her a reply,

Didn’t want to be flippant or seem like a jerk.

“What step do you have in mind?” I inquired.

She picked up the phone, and I heard her cry,

“I just lost my job. I can’t live without work.”

What help could I be to a friend who’d been fired?

woman wearing red hat and sunglasses

Photo by Nashua Volquez on Pexels.com

 

It was fun to try and create a “Petrarchan.”

You should try it!

 

This was a fiction account,

With a shred of truth;
For indeed I am blessed
With health and security
And a choice of next “steps,”
While I know friends who
Indeed are not and cannot!

grayscale photography of patient and relative holding hands

Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

Who will you reach out to today?
And will you try a Petrarchan?

 

Category:

blessings, contentment, friendship, Giving, Gratitude, happiness, health, Heartache, learning, Life's Challenges, Love, writing

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Conscious Refueling

blur dusk evening gas station

Photo by Jonathan Petersson on Pexels.com

PRAYER FOR CONSCIOUS REFUELING

 
When I look with an honest eye
At my conscience and what it is saying,
I hear all the sinful confessions,
And know peace –  only by praying.

 
I pray for God’s grace and forgiveness.
I pray for God’s patient renewal
Of my attitudes and behaviors.
Please, Lord, help me come and refuel.

 
Your station of spiritual love
Is right here at my open heart door.
May I drink of its true Living Water,
And return daily to fill me once more.

timelapse photography off water fountain

Photo by Gabriel Peter on Pexels.com

Category:

God, Love, mental health, peace, prayer

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My Heart Aches

photo of clipped heart shaped red paper

Photo by Plush Design Studio on Pexels.com

My Heart Aches
and
I’m hanging it out to dry
.
.
As the snow falls outside and rests

Heavy on the evergreen branches,

6bcbae91-85ad-4ee9-8abe-c0fe958a8ffe

.

 

I rest, too, heavy and troubled in
The warmth of my peaceful indoors.
adult beverage breakfast celebration

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

.
.

My sister’s diagnosis of
Severe dementia and apathy syndrome
midsection of man

Photo by Hichem Deghmoum on Pexels.com

.
.
Plucks sadly at my heartstrings

And plays a mournful tune.

close up of piano

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

.
.

My heart aches to soar

Above the clouds of sadness.

silhouette photo of man throw paper plane

Photo by Rakicevic Nenad on Pexels.com

.

.

My feet long to trek

Green paths of creation’s gladness.

daylight dirt road ecology environment

Photo by PhotoMIX Ltd. on Pexels.com

.
.
My Heart Aches
and
I’m hanging it out to dry.
.

photo of clipped heart shaped red paper

 

 

Category:

Aging Gracefully, Family, health, Heartache, Life and Death, Life's Challenges, Love

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Self-Examination

Lent is upon us.
It is a 40 day period when we prepare for the coming of Easter.
One way to prepare is to practice the art of self-examination.
Look deeply into yourself.
Be prepared to acknowledge your areas of struggle.

Invite God to help you over the hurdles.

.

In Soul Feast by Marjorie J. Thompson, we are reminded that we cannot escape from God’s all-seeing eye. She writes, “When we feel searched and known by a gracious God, we are both moved and enabled to search our own hearts honestly.”
green wooden board with heart hole

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

.
I was inspired by Thompson’s invitation to “Open the door of our heart to cleansing, renewal and peace.” In response, I wrote the following poem:
.
.
SELF-EXAMINATION
 
Nothing we do or fail to do
Can alter the depth of God’s love.
It’s truly unconditional,
A sure-fire gift from above.
 
Knowing the truth of this gift,
Knowing the depth of affection,
Allows us to be real with ourselves,
And honest with God in confession.
 
We can acknowledge to God openly
The weakness displayed in our sin,
And remember He knows it already – 
So, open your heart; Let God in!
close up of tree against sky

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

.
When you look deeply into yourself,
what areas of struggle do you acknowledge?
 
Invite God to help you over the hurdles.

Category:

God, Love, self-acceptance

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Throw-Back Thursday

Christian, Loreal and Tiffany, Adrian And Nicholas (and is that Tanya and Kevin?)… ah, students from way back in the ’80s … or was it the ’70s?

As a teacher, my students (about a quarter century of them) live in my heart.

Some are FB friends who still stay in touch.

But whether they write to me or not, they are a part of me.

Every time they see an accordion, they’ll think of me.

Some will remember the word “Eye-vix-L-cidm” whenever they see Roman numerals= IVXLCDM. They will lay them out and remember:

I = 1

V = 5

X = 10

L = 50

C = 100

D = 500

M = 1000

Yes, 1, 5, 1, 5, 1, 5, 1

Add one zero

Add two zeros

Add three zeros

Helps to know this when reading old copyright dates or the production dates of old movies or the construction dates of ancient buildings!

Others will think of me when their math skills were not up to par with their reading and writing skills and they got 7×8 mixed up with 6×7. They’ll recite:

“If 7×8 makes you wait, 5678, lay them straight!” 56= 7×8!

Others will remember how often I said, “The question is not – Are you smart? – The question is – How are you smart?”

(Thanks Madeleine Hunter for that!)

Ah yes, on throw-back Thursday I remember the Stefans (actually he was a one-of-a-kind – I can’t pluralize him!), the Kevins and Lorei (oh, she’s unique, too), the Hillary and Heidi, the Bucky and the Johnnys… I’m grateful for each one.

 

What teacher or student or classmate do you remember?
What stands out about him or her?
Share!

Category:

children, friendship, Gratitude, happiness, learning, life, Love, Memories

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To Give or to Give Up?

Today is Ash Wednesday.
Many Christians around the world are wondering today,
“What should I give up for Lent?”

What to Give Up?

Once you decide, you ask yourself if this is like a New Year’s resolution. Will I be able to keep my commitment? Can I keep the spark alive for 40 days? Or will I give up?

monochrome photo of person holding sparkler

Photo by Sumit Rai on Pexels.com

 

Forty days is a long time! Can I give up coffee or carbs? Dessert or just donuts? How about carrots or cabbage, broccoli or brussels sprouts?

assorted vegetable lot

Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.com

 

What do you obsess about?

A promise to give up something for Lent
needs to be a promise to rid ourselves
of something that we obsess about.

We need to cleanse our bodies and souls of something that distracts us
from focusing on the meaning of this season
in preparation for the sacrifice of the “Bread of Life”
who gave His body for our salvation.


If spiritual discipline is what fasting is supposed to be about,
does giving up something you can do without
really do the trick?

 

photography of pink doughnut

Photo by Jonathan Miksanek on Pexels.com

 

Looking at Lent through the eyes of Marjorie J. Thompson,
who wrote the book “Soul Feast,”
I began to understand
the concept of fasting a little better.
She wrote, “… the discipline of fasting…
has to do with the critical dynamic
of accepting those limits that are life-restoring.”
She went on to caution us,
“Do not underestimate what God can
accomplish in you through the consistent offering
of such a discipline.”

The discipline is that of “self-emptying.”

What is Self-Emptying?

Self-emptying is “giving up something”  –
but it doesn’t have to be food!
Fasting from a particular food we crave
is NOT the ONLY way to acknowledge the onset of Lent.

Let’s decide to “self-empty” of something.

The word Lent was derived from a Saxon word meaning “spring.” In the early church, Lent was viewed as a spritual spring, a time of light and joy in the renewal of the soul’s life. James Earl Massey wrote, “Fasting is not a renunciation of life; it is a means by which new life is released within us.”

What can we give up in order to release new life in us?

More Than Food!

Fasting is about more than food. It is about hungering for the things that matter most. It is about abstaining from those activities that pull us away from what we know we OUGHT to be doing.

  • What about fasting from constantly checking your cell phone?
  • What about fasting from daily absorption in the “breaking news” – the TV?
  • What about giving up the tendency to let our minds wander when in fact we want to be meditating and entering into prayful communion with God?
  • How about a fast from negativity or criticism?Those are some of the things we can “give up” without giving up the intent of Lent.


To Give or to Give Up?

But what about GIVING instead (or in addition to) giving up? What might I GIVE to honor God during this season of Lent?

A couple of years ago, I read in a Guideposts Magazine about a woman who had spent the 40 days of Lent in what I thought was a very unique way. She created a list of 40 people who made a difference in her life. These people who positively influenced her were from every walk of life – family, work, church, childhood friends, neighbors, teachers, etc. Once she generated her list, she wrote a letter a day. In her notes, she told each of them how important they were in her life, how much she appreciated them, how grateful she was for what they meant to her.

I read that and thought, “I can do that!
I can think of 40 people who deserve a thank you
from me for what they have done in my life.”

arts and crafts cardboard close up design

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

My trouble was, however, limiting the list to just 40. When you stop and think about it, I bet you can easily name 40 or more who have touched your life in a meaningful way. I had to make some of the names “couples.” Then, I was able to begin my 40 days of letter writing. It was a wonderful act of “giving” – and filled the time I might have been eating that food I crave!

Yes, you can give – and give up – at the same time.

What will you do to honor this season,
to create a time of “interior spring cleaning” 
that leads to God in the core of your being
while making your life more nourishing for others?

Think about it…
and tell me what you come up with
in the comments below,
will you?

Category:

Family, Giving, God, Gratitude, happiness, holidays, Living in Christ's Family, Love, Sharing, writing

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Snow Piles

Montana snow piles

Are five feet tall and rising

Push them to the side

Category:

Haiku, Love, Montana, nature, Poetry

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