Rainy Day Studio

Alice in Wonderland sculpture in Central Park

I have seen Alice in Wonderland 5 times. I own the DVD and have a digital copy on my computer. I own the soundtrack and the Almost Alice CD. I cannot get enough of this movie. The reason is, I believe it is a metaphor for our journey through life. I think we all feel like we’ve ended up in Wonderland sometimes. And I think Alice is a good representation of how we respond to our own Wonderland.

When Alice first meets the white rabbit and other Wonderland creatures, there is some debate whether the white rabbit has brought the right Alice. When they ask the smoking caterpillar, he says that she is not hardly Alice. She is a bit disgruntled, because she believes this is a dream, and she should have control over her circumstances, but she doesn’t. It’s as if her dream doubts her existence. She didn’t ask to come here. And they are telling her that there is some kind of heroic thing that she needs to do. And on top of that, nobody is sure she is going to succeed.

I can totally identify with Alice. It feels like I’m here for a reason, but I’m not sure if I am up to the challenge, or that I’m even on the right path. I think many of us feel that way. Here we are living our life, trying to make good choices. But we feel like we don’t quite belong. We feel like we are the wrong Alice.

The thing I like about this movie is that as Alice journeys through Wonderland in her own way, she is finding her true self and preparing for her ultimate challenge. This is inspiring because, it’s easy for us to believe that we are just wandering around life. But what we don’t realize that the wandering is part of the preparation for something great. We need to embrace the wandering, because there’s probably something pretty exciting waiting for us later on down the path.

This is  a story of fulfilled destiny, finding true courage, and free will all wrapped in to one. I believe the stories of our lives are like that. We have a destiny to fulfill. But it will take courage to succeed, and we are responsible for our choices. I’m not totally sure how that all works. But I believe that if we are truly pursuing the One who designed our destiny, in the end, we will accomplish what we were designed to do.

My friend Sunny asking French tourists if she could speak French with them.

The other day, my friend Sunny and I were walking around the gardens at the Los Angeles Getty Center when we noticed some people speaking French. I don’t speak French, so my thought was, “That’s cool, I don’t hear French much where I live in Stevens Point.” But my friend Sunny does speak the language. So she walks over to the people and says, in French, “Hello, would it be okay if I spoke French with you?”

I’m sure the folks had never had anyone come up to them and ask that question before. But they were delighted that she did. They were vacationing in America and only one of them spoke English. You could tell they really appreciated the fact that someone would take the time to communicate with them in their own language. They talked for about twenty minutes. I mostly smiled and nodded throughout the conversation. But by the end, they had exchanged addresses and emails, and Sunny offered to mail some postcards for them.

I was thinking about this encounter, and it made me think about how, so many times we go about our day, living our lives from our own perspective, and we don’t notice that there are people who are feeling a bit out of place, and who would love for us to walk up to them and say, “May I step into your life for a moment to get a better understanding of your world?”

The cool thing about this is that everyone grew a bit by the experience. Sunny was able to practice her French, and the group felt more comfortable in a strange place.

I think it would be awesome to live our lives in such as way, that we are able to recognize opportunities to touch other people’s lives while growing ourselves.

My niece Emily's list of animal noises for the church talent show

I was at my sister’s house the other night as her kids were discussing their talents for an upcoming talent show. Emily is very good at writing stories and drawing. She also recently gave a presentation at school about panda bears which I heard was very informative. So we were encouraging her and suggesting that she do something along those lines for the talent show.

Emily felt, that the talent she really wants to share with the world, is her ability to make animal noises. Up until this point, I was unaware of this talent. So she began to perform her repertoire for us. She began first with her duck sound. It was sort of like the sound you would expect Donald Duck to make, if he was tied to the spokes of Emily’s bicycle, and she was riding down a bumpy, gravel road. From there, she continued with her impressions which included a giggling dinosaur, Darth Vader, and a monkey. The grand finale, was the sound her cat Rudy makes, as he coughs up a hairball.

Needless to say, we were all very impressed. She wrote out her list of noises, and is all ready for the show.

My sister Mindy and I were talking about this after Emily went to bed.  We talked about how our lives are a bit like Emily’s talent show. We’re out here on stage thinking that we are the ones with the talent and abilities. And sometimes, during our performance, we can forget that it’s God who gives us our abilities and talents and strengths in the first place. Sometimes we use those abilities well, sometimes we try to compete with other people’s talents. And sometime we think we’re doing this awesome, cool stuff on our own, and we don’t even realize, that all we’re doing is making animal noises.

I do believe, however, that even though our efforts are a bit clumsy and weird sometimes, God delights in our passions and our willingness to put ourselves out there. I think He smiles and laughs a bit. And as we stand on the stage of life, we should perform our talent with everything we’ve got, knowing full-well, that it is God who gave us the chance to play in the first place.

Last night I had the opportunity to attend the Visions Show at the Riverfront Art Center here in Stevens Point. This is always one of my favorite shows because anyone can submit work and it is judged by an outside judge. As I walked around the room, I saw a variety of artwork that was created by people I knew. These were friends and neighbors. I really like the freshness of it all. Many of these people live ordinary lives. They have regular jobs and do regular things. But in this show, their true identities as artists were revealed.

One of the artists, who is a college student majoring in art, told me that she was inspired to pursue art because of a drawing class I taught at Art Village back when we first opened. She said that by being encouraged as a teenager, she was given the confidence to go for what she loves. I spoke with others, who in the past, had some reservations about art making. To see them taking the creative risk of putting themselves out there is a wonderful thing.

It was a moving experience to see artwork from people who have been a part of my life these past 5 years. I believe art reveals who we are as individuals. And this year’s Vision show revealed the best in the people of our community.

This morning I was in a meeting that left me feeling like I had failed. I am one of those people who strive for the A. I make goals. I want to do something big. I go above and beyond to excel in everything I do. I’m just wired that way.

So when I find myself in these “less than stellar moments”, my self-talk can be a bit harsh. I would never talk to anyone else the way I reprimand myself. I think many of us do that. We can be very forgiving when it comes to others, but we hold ourselves to a higher standard.

I want to make wise choices. I want to do the right thing. And, if I’m honest, I want other people to think I do the right thing as well. But sometimes no matter what I do, I fail in areas of my life. I know intellectually that failures help me learn and grow. But emotionally, I feel like a loser. As I was thinking about this feeling today, I began to think that perhaps that “loser” feeling is really the fear that others will think I’m a loser.

This weekend, my pastor said something that really struck me. He said, “sometimes we are more concerned about looking better than we are, than we are about being better than we are.” I don’t want to just look better. I want to be better. And being better means I have to experience humbling circumstances. I realize that I need to stop worrying about how others perceive me and get on with becoming better. So, tomorrow is another day full of opportunities to learn and grow.

We’ve all heard that life is a journey. It’s what we say when we aren’t thrilled with where we find ourselves in life. Three months ago I closed my art studio. It was a business into which I put my heart and soul. I believed that running the studio was my purpose in life. I threw money at it. I spent hours working in it. And I spent every waking moment thinking about it. I did everything I knew to do, and it still ended.

Now, three months later, I have no idea what the future holds. This is a most disturbing place to be. I am a goal setter. I like to look forward to things. I tend to live in the future. And now I look forward and everything seems foggy. I know we’ve all been at this place at sometime in our lives.

I believe that God has a plan for each of us. And it may be, that in all our trying, and forcing, and working, we can forget that we are part of something bigger. Knowing this gives me hope. And I am excited to see what the future brings.

In the meantime, I have renewed my occupation as a graphic designer. This is what I did before I opened my studio. I know how to do it and I do it well. I’ve been thinking about the phrase “How you do anything is how you do everything.” I believe this phrase is true. As I begin the new chapter in life, I am determined to engage as wholeheartedly as possible, and every client will receive my very best.

So, if you find yourself a bit lost, my advice is, do what you know to do. Do it the best you can. And keep your eyes open for what lies ahead.