Dear Sweet Ones,

I want to tell you something about creativity.

To create is to reflect the image of God, the Creator.

To create anything is to participate in the divine purpose for which we were made.

I hope you will let those words sink deep into your soul.

Whenever we spend time in creation, I am in awe of all God’s great gifts in nature.

I wonder at all that God has made.

The trees, the hills, the flowers, the mountains, the rivers and streams. The great expanse of the sea. I love spending time seeing what God has created, and I have tried to teach you to love it too.

I want you to love it a little bit more every day by making time for walking outside.

But maybe I have missed teaching you to participate in creation by also being a maker.

I think it’s hard to be a maker in our family because we like everything to be already perfectly made. And we tend towards criticism. When things are still in process, we interrupt creators with discouragement.

I grieve that I have perhaps taught you to point out imperfection rather than to participate in creating.

So I am trying to make more imperfect things.

I am exercising the muscle of creativity in places that are unfamiliar and awkward and maybe even pointless.

One of the ways I am making time for creativity lately is by drawing and painting.

I have a little tiny set of watercolors I have been carrying around with me for a couple of years now, and I am filling up some of the pages of my journal with perfectly imperfect creations.

I am trying to look more closely at the places we walk by the act of drawing them.

I find it hard. And very slow. (Not unlike learning German)

But when I make time for this act of pointless creativity, for wasting time doing something at which I am not very good, I am surprised by the calm I experience and the small joys it brings.

I’m surprised by what I notice.

Here’s what Brené Brown says about creativity in her brilliant book, The Gifts of Imperfection:

1. “I’m not very creative” doesn’t work. There’s no such thing as creative people and non-creative people. There are only people who use their creativity and people who don’t. Unused creativity doesn’t just disappear. It lives within us until it’s expressed, neglected to death, or suffocated by resentment and fear.

2. The only unique contribution that we will ever make in this world will be born of our creativity.

3. If we want to make meaning, we need to make art. Cook, write, draw, doodle, paint, scrapbook, take pictures, collage, knit, rebuild an engine, sculpt, dance, decorate, act, sing—it doesn’t matter. As long as we’re creating, we’re cultivating meaning.

So I hope you will take some time to make things for the sake of making. I hope you will not hear my critical voice in your head telling you that you should be busy with more practical endeavors.

Find ways to express the creativity that is within you.

Join in with the wonder that is creation.

I love each of you and all the ways you make life more beautiful,

Mama

The post A Letter to My Kids About Making Time For Creativity appeared first on Alison Chino.

Hi friends,

A couple of weeks ago we sang Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing in church, a song which I have long loved.

It has always been my sister’s favorite hymn, and lately it is Mary Polly’s as well.

The phrase “prone to wander” always grabs me, but this time around I held to the line “Tune my heart to sing thy grace.”

I’ve had a couple of major fails lately that suggest that I need more than just a little tune up in my heart.

I love to remember that God has the power to reach inside my heart and pull the strings around so that they sing grace instead of bitterness.

So here’s a new poster download with that sweet reminder.

I read a great quote this week about grace:

Grace will take you places hustling can’t. 

(from Brene Brown’s new book, Rising Strong, and she’s actually quoting Elizabeth Gilbert)

So cheers to singing grace today!

XO

Alison

PS We’re loving Sara Groves’ version of this hymn around our house.

The post Tune My Heart appeared first on Alison Chino.

Just popping in today with a little poster of a verse I painted to send to Cole at camp this week.

I mentioned last Friday that Ephesians 3:20 is the verse I’m praying for our family and for our world right now, and I always find it helpful to have a little visual reminder.

You can download the scanned copy of this verse and print it off yourself if you want to pray along with me.

XO

Alison

P.S. When my Mama Polly died this past summer and I couldn’t go to the funeral, I bought a new set of watercolors and went to the beach instead. (She was an artist!) I’ve been having loads of fun playing with them, mostly using them in my journals and to highlight things I am writing. (But I would love to learn more about landscape painting!) I’m enjoying a new way to be creative + play! And fun fact: Cultivating creativity and cultivating play are two of Brene Brown’s “guideposts to whole-hearted living.” In other words, we NEED more of it in our lives!

The post Ephesians 3:20 appeared first on Alison Chino.

I received an email from a reader referencing an old post I wrote about hearing Brene Brown talk about fear.

I wrote it when I was getting ready to move overseas and I was feeling very afraid.

It was so good for me to re-read it that I decided to paint these words again to remind myself that when I am feeling afraid, I can still be brave.

Because two years into living in Scotland, guess what?

I’m still afraid.

I’m afraid of the dark. I’m afraid of another winter. I’m afraid of the heartache of living so far from those I love. I’m afraid of what’s next. I’m afraid of not knowing what’s next. I’m afraid of the heartbreak I will have over leaving new folks I love. I’m afraid of what’s next for my children. I’m afraid of watching their hearts break.

I’m still very afraid.

And just like two years ago, I’m still taking life just one little bit at a time.

Index card lists with small dreams for everyday sacred days I want to have with my people here.

Loving big even though I know it will keep breaking my heart.

I’m trying to be brave as I begin Year 3 of our Life in Scotland.

And just in case you are needing a little reminder too, you can actually download the scanned version of this painting.

Hang it on your wall as a little present from me.

Imperfect courage.

Smeared ink and all.

XO

Alison

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