Do What is Beautiful

22 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, allsparkledup, art, drawing, encouragement, Inspirational, On my Worktable, travel, Uncategorized, words

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chalkboard, inspirational, Japan, On my worktable, trees, words

Life is complicated and one day a couple months ago I became extra conflicted. I just didn’t know what to do and was almost paralyzed with insecurity and fear. What should I do? I had trouble figuring out what was good, what was right, and how to please everyone. Nothing seemed clear. Even when I found a task that seemed ok, I quit as soon as it seemed fun. Really? Now how dumb is that, to intentionally sabotage something good?

But then a new thought suddenly filled my mind. That day, instead of doing what seemed good or fun… a clear thought came to mind.
“Do what is beautiful.”

I posted it on my refrigerator and said it out loud. “Do what is beautiful.”

That day, as I looked through photos I took in Japan last year, I was struck how looking at a tree, really appreciating it, the leaves, the bark, is beautiful.

Enjoy the photos slow. Look close. Each pine needle, each curled leaf, each thirsty root.
Do what is beautiful.

I breathed in deep, remembering the smell of pine and forest.

And there, sitting at my computer looking at photos, breathing deep suddenly seemed beautiful.

Everything started to be beautiful!

Washing dishes is beautiful.

Strength is beautiful.

Resting is beautiful.

Sacrifice is beautiful.

Never giving up is beautiful.

The slate from my childhood hangs on my dining room wall. I had not written on it for over a year and it was time for a change. Writing new words on the slate is doing something beautiful.
I started with a pencil sketch.

I sketched out the words to make it all fit.

I erased and edited.

Do something beautiful.

My sketch seemed off and I wasn’t happy with it. It took me a while to figure out that I wanted to do “what is beautiful” not just “something beautiful.” It was such a small change but it made a big difference to me. So I erased again and penciled in Do What is Beautiful.

Do What is Beautiful, the sketch for the chalkboard.

The old organizer box still holds chalk bits that I used 45 years ago.

I picked out a handful of chalk colors to make the drawing.

Colored bits of chalk

But I ended up using only neutral colors.

I’ve never minded the scritch and scratch of chalk on the board and even enjoy the dust on my fingertips.

Do What is Beautiful, written in chalk.

Do you see the tally marks in the lower left corner. Count them… there are
37 tally marks. I made them as I worked on the chalk drawing. Each one of those tally marks is when I erased something on this chalkboard and had to do it over. 37 times I made mistakes or had to straighten a line, or erase or start over. I left the tally marks on the drawing because they represent what is beautiful.

The last part of the message is to Never, Never give up. Never giving up is beautiful.

If you’re at a loss of what to do, do what is beautiful. You will know. And never, never give up.

Do What is Beautiful and Never, Never give up.

Encouragement for you

02 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by Julia Monroe in Inspirational, nature, photography, Scripture, words

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inspirational, nature, photography, scripture, sunset, words

The first and third photos were taken at Sunset Beach, NC. The photo in the middle was taken in my backyard. Please feel free to copy, save and print these encouraging cards if you want.

Edited to add: I just remembered when that first photo was taken. My granddaughter and husband were with me to hold my camera gear as we walked to the beach. We had been at the beach house for five days and I still had not walked down to the beach because I was in so much searing pain and seriously disabled. I suspected my back was broken but it had not yet been confirmed. I could barely walk or move. But I was determined to not miss an opportunity to photograph my granddaughter in the sunset and asked God to please help me make it down to the shore and back. During the slow and painful walk, the sun broke through the clouds. I have never seen such as spectacular sky as that evening. Instead of remembering the terrifying unstable spine, I have photos such as this to remind me… God was with me.

I hung my old chalkboard in the dining room

29 Tuesday Oct 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in calligraphy, family, God, home, home decor, Inspirational, projects, Scripture, words

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chalkboard, home decor, inspirational, scripture, words

The easel is long gone and the drawing scroll must be somewhere in the attic. But I still have the slate chalkboard from my childhood. I’ve been wanting to put it on the wall for many years. Now that the dining room is finished there is a perfect space for it. I got the cast iron fleur-de-lis hook from Hobby Lobby. We drilled pilot holes for the wood screws and carefully screwed the brass chain to the old wood chalkboard frame.
And then came the best part – learning how to use chalk all over again. After all these years, I still love getting powdery chalk dust on my fingers and feeling the smooth cold slate against my hand as I write.

This scripture is my prayer today for one of my sons who is moving out of state today. May the Lord watch over him and direct his steps.

Scripture – Deuteronomy 31:6

If you are facing something unknown, remember this verse. Fill in the blank with what you are facing, whatever it may be… The power company … The empty refrigerator… A difficult person… Illness… Impossible “To Do” lists… and trust God. He will not leave you nor forsake you. He it is that goes with you when no one else can, when no one else will. He will not forsake you.

Image

On my refrigerator…

20 Saturday Apr 2013

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inspirational, words

Posted by Julia Monroe | Filed under Inspirational, words

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Word Confetti – U R Going 2 B OK

11 Friday May 2012

Posted by Julia Monroe in art, Inspirational, mixed media, projects, words

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art, inpirational, mixed media, word confetti, words

I’m taking an online class, Soul Restoration 2, by Brave Girls. One of the projects is making a vision board using words cut from magazines. I snipped away at the pages until the table was littered with word confetti. As I cut, I got a panicky feeling that I might not find all the words that represented me. My magazine stock was very limited and I worried about finding enough words. The stack grew much bigger than the canvas could possibly hold but I kept snipping away, feeling as though my entire life needed to be fully represented or my perfection-driven soul wouldn’t feel complete.

I paused, scissors in hand, and looked at the pile stretched across the table. There, in a little cleared spot, was U R Going 2 B OK. Nearby were 2 others – Life Matters and Good Enough. A huge wave of relief washed over me. It was OK!
It is OK to be someone that people don’t understand. It is OK to have big ideas and not be able to put them into words. It is OK to try to do your best and still stop right in the middle to smell roses.

I have this photo as my desktop today. Please feel free to save the image for your own use.

U R Going 2 B OK. Word Confetti. Please click photo to see the larger image.

Easter Eggs 2012

08 Sunday Apr 2012

Posted by Julia Monroe in crafts, Easter, funny, words

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crafts, decorated eggs, Easter, Easter eggs, Easter eggs with words, eggs, funny, humor, words

The egg decorating kit looked spiffy, with pretty colors and cute rub-on decals of chicks, eggs and bunnies. But the decals didn’t stick at all. Not happy there. But we don’t give up easy so we rummaged around in my little box of scrapbook stickers and found a couple old sheets of rub-on decals from Valentine’s Day years ago. We had to think like an egg in order to figure out which words might work on an egg. Quite the stretch. Here are our eggs, which we put all in one basket.

Easter Eggs 2012, decorated with rub-on decals - click to see a larger image.

My personal favorites?
“Most embarrassing moment” on a cracked egg.
Also the egg with “And so the story goes…” Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
The egg of course.

Easter Eggs 2012 with words - decorated with rub-on word decals. And so the story goes...

Love playing with beads

28 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, beading, crafts, Gilded Girls, jewelry making, words

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All Sparkled Up, beads, crafts, jewelry, words

I really ought to stop playing with the beads. But once they become a bracelet, they will never again live an alternate life as Words.

Love.

The beads are not glued down. One breath or tiny bump to the table sends all the round ones scrambling. Such a challenge to patience! The position is so fleeting. Then I brush them back into the bins and the surface is once again bare.