The Blessing & Curse in Pictures

Me....just trying to catch up on some rest!  Don't poke me though.  I'm grumpy when I'm poked.

Creativity is both a blessing and a curse.  It is a blessing as the juices are flowing and you are swallowed up in the process of making something…something new…something never seen before.  Oh, the joy of being enveloped in those artistic juices!  But, it is a curse when you are stuck.  Stuck with either a stifling inability to think or act creatively, or stuck by the circumstances of life that are stopping you from exercising those artistic genes. 

I’m afraid I’ve had more of the curse lately.  I've been stuck.



I promise...I'm really trying to bridge this creativity gap!

 

My money-making occupation has dominated my mind-time of late, and I have had real trouble thinking creatively.  Thus, so few new blog entries in the last couple of months.  Frankly, it is kind of painful.  I want desperately to write something, but I’ve had nothing to say.  No sparks of creativity to ignite into a new story or a new blog entry.

I think I left my ideas up there.  It's a long climb up, but I need 'em.

I did start a new short story about a guy named “Rolly Shamus,” but I have had trouble finding the “mind-time” to develop the story and get it written.  (I was going to say “on paper,” but nobody actually uses paper anymore.  I guess I could have said “on memory,” but what does that even mean?)



I'm sure there's something just around the corner.

 

So, basically, I’m just writing to let you know I’m a bit frustrated.  And to share these pictures with you.  At least it gives you something to look at.  And, despite my frustration…and my temptation to just bag the whole writing thing…I will be back soon with something more interesting…interesting to me anyway.



Sometimes, being creative becomes a real battle.

 

This little bout with writer’s block can’t last forever.

Mike



Soon, the ideas will flowing so strong, it'll be like they're shooting out of my hair!

 PS: I wrote this, then picked the pictures at random.  The fun part was making up the silly captions to make them fit my writing.  Just a fun little exercise.  And, I bet that picture just above made you smile.

Cake and a Deeper Experience

I’ve been thinking a lot about cake lately…and not just because my wife made a delicious banana pudding cake for dessert yesterday.  And, not because of that bread pudding cake dessert I had after dinner tonight.  Not even because I haven’t had a Big Wacky Cake for a couple of months. 

Nope.  None of those reasons.

I’ve been thinking about cake as it relates to God.

I bet you’re scratching your head on that one.  Did it make you go “Hmmmmm”?  Are you wondering if maybe I’ve loosened up the old screws that hold my mind together?  Let me explain.

Well, you see, someone asked me to help with a discussion a couple of weeks ago, and my answer to him on the spur of the moment has been sitting on my mind ever since.  This friend was having a bit of a time explaining how the study of the scriptures differed from the study of God.  In my answer, I changed the topic.  I said: “Let’s say it’s like the study of the wording and language of a cake recipe versus the study of the cake itself.  Either way, if you never experience the actual cake, then you’ve wasted your time.”

I think that often Christianity can be the same way.  We get all caught up in the study of the semantics and language of the scriptures.  What does this mean?  What does that mean?  What did the Greek say here?  What was the Hebrew word used there?  Or, we talk and rave about the wondrous things that God has made, and we marvel at what must be His character or what He may be like.  How can He be everywhere at once?  How could He have been here forever? 

All the while, we don’t really experience God.

You know how when you have that slice of cake in front of you…and you slide that fork down through that sweet cream icing and the moist body of delicate deliciousness...how excited you become in anticipation?  How about when you slide that fork into your mouth and the flavors burst onto the taste buds?  How you make those “mmm, mmmmm” sounds as it dissolves on your tongue?  Wow.  It is a marvelous thing!

Could this describe your experience with God?

Could you imagine spending years upon years just looking at a cake?  Never taking a bite.  Just looking at it.

Or, maybe instead, you spend years upon years studying a cake recipe.  What are the nuances of how much vanilla to use?  How much egg?  Butter?  And again, you never…ever…take a bite.

I think some Christians do that with God.  They look at Him.  Study Him.  Consider Him.  They read His Book (recipe) over and over and over.  They even gather in large groups every week to talk about Him or his Book.

And yet, they never take a bite.

They never really take the fork out and experience the impact of God as His flavors explode in their hearts.

I’m going to have to think about this some more.  I just thought I’d share this train of thought as it rattled through my brain, but....

One last thing…it really is a shame too for so many people who are missing out.  Because….in this case…you CAN have your cake AND eat it too.  It never runs out…it never gets stale…and you don’t even need a scoop of ice cream to make it go down.