More Street Art

    

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     Yesterday the kids and I were enjoying the beautiful weather outside and still feeling the urge to create some random art, we graffitied the neighbor's sidewalks with sidewalk chalk. I opted for quotes about peace, hope, and love. We only chose neighbor's whom I knew wouldn't mind. There are so many quotes that I love, but I found I couldn't remember too many of them at the time. If given some chalk and a sidewalk what inspirational would you share? Wouldn't it be fun to write them all over?

Random Acts of Art

     Last week my daughter and I installed this random act of art in our neighborhood park. She's been on a painting kick and I had been inspired by other random acts of art I had seen on Pinterest. Since I don't knit, yarn bombing wasn't an option. We used recycled items to make flowers and butterflies. We certainly had fun creating it and I hope that seeing it made someone else smile. That was the point after all. I've noticed it's starting to fall apart now so I will be taking it down soon. It was only meant to be temporary. Maybe if you are feeling glum due to all this rainy weather we've been having you'll be inspired to go create your own random act of art and make someone else's day. For more inspiration check out my kindness board on Pinterest. I've pinned several fun random acts of art. So go ahead. Get artsy and bring a smile to someone's face.

Kindness on the Road

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     Tonight I gave a friend a ride home and after I dropped her off and got back on the road the person behind me got very agitated. They were obviously in a hurry and even flashed their lights at me a couple times. It is easy to get caught up in a pattern of aggression. I often find myself calling another driver a name because they do something that aggravates me. Quite often my back seat drivers will call other drivers jerks, even when unwarranted, and I realize they are simply following my bad example. In order to help me remember to be a better model for my children I placed a sticker of Mother Teresa on my driver's side window. Each time I get behind the wheel I see it, and hopefully remember to treat those I meet on the road with kindness. Simply allowing another car to go first or giving up the right of way can cause a chain reaction and hopefully reverse the pattern of aggression so often found on the roadways.

Jumping on the Bandwagon...almost.

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     Anyone who has seen my minivan can tell you I like to be different. For those of you who haven't, it's painted with a mural of seafaring alligators on both sides. So it shouldn't be surprising that when the movie Frozen exploded onto the scene, instead of jumping onto the bandwagon, I stood staunchly against it. There were many, admittedly, self righteous reasons I took a dislike to a movie I had yet to see. Number one being that it was so drastically different from the Hans Christian Anderson original storyline as to be unrecognizable. I was quite proud of the fact that my four year old daughter had never even heard of Frozen even last week. That all changed the day it came out on DVD and her friend invited her over to watch it. She came home enamored. So I decided to rent it and see what all the hype was about. First off I will say that I am not a Disney fan. There are many reasons why not, and I will not get into them here. But there are still plenty of Disney items in our house, given to my children by loving friends and family and my daughter and I can both name every single Disney Princess. 
     So as I sat down to watch the movie with my daughter ensconced on my lap I was fully prepared to loath the movie. I wanted to hate it. But that's not what happened. It turns out Disney finally got something right. It didn't follow the original plot one iota. The sisters were unrealistically beautiful. But with all the things they got wrong, they got one major, unbelievable thing right. And here it is: True love means sacrificing yourself for another. That's it. It's probably the most important thing anyone can ever learn. So will I go out and buy the movie and the soundtrack? Probably not. But you may just catch me humming "Let it Go".

Getting Crafty

   

     Last Sunday my Sunday school class and I made these sacrifice or good deed beads. The idea comes from St. Terese. You can use the beads to keep track of your good deeds or sacrifices through out the day. The kids really seemed to enjoy making them, though it is a project that will work best with older children. I teach 6th through 9th graders. I also recommend beads with large holes, as the cord needs to go through twice. I used peace, faith, and love charms instead of religious medals because that's what I was able to find, but it gave them a more contemporary look the kids liked. You can find the directions to make your own here.

Wonder

    

      I read a lot of middle grade novels. I think it is my favorite genre. There is an innocence to them that is lost in YA and adult books, yet the stories can be quite complex. One I read recently that has stuck with me is called Wonder by R.J. Palacio. It is a book about a fifth grade boy starting school for the first time. He has been home schooled his whole life due to a severe facial deformity. It is a story about bullying, but more over it is a story about kindness. There is a section at the end of the book where a school administrator is addressing the students and parents. In his speech he ushers a challenge for how he wants his middle schoolers to live.  He says:

     "If every single person in this room made it a rule that wherever you are, whenever you can, you will try to act a little kinder than is necessary-the world really would be a better place.  And if you do this, if you act just a little kinder than is necessary, someone else, somewhere, someday, may recognize in you, in every single one of you, the face of God."

What a wonderful thought.

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Lenten Goals

    

Today Christians around the world receive ashes on their foreheads to remind them of their humanity and to mark the first day of the Lenten Season.  It is a time of preparation and sacrifice but also of giving. There are three pillars of Lent. Fasting is only one of them. Prayer is another obvious one, but let us not forget almsgiving. Each of these helps us prepare for the coming of Easter. We often think about what we will give up or even how we will try to enhance our prayer life during Lent, but do we remember the poor, especially at this time? This year I challenge each of you to be sure to add almsgiving to your Lenten promises. May you all have a fruitful Lent.


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