Meme Me

My friend LammyAnn tagged me with my first meme ever. She asked three questions (kinda random, but I like 'em) so here's my answers:

1. Do you think anyone with a desire to create is an artist of sorts?

There is the desire within all of us to create. In some way, deep down inside, everyone wants to create something beautiful, meaningful, and significant. For some, that desire may be expressed through a tangible medium like paint, clay, music, or words. Others work to craft and mold their relationships into works of art, caring for the people around them with tenderness and wonder. There are as many expressions of this desire as there are people on the earth. I believe that this is for one reason - because we are made in the image of THE Create-or. As God has crafted and molded each one of us out of His desire, so we too have desire residing within each of us that longs to create something beautiful, something that will linger in our wake.
So, does this common desire make every one of us an artist? No. I believe that we all have the capacity for art if we dig deep enough into our soul, but this capacity is not always realized. According to Visual Thesaurus an artist is "a person whose creative work shows sensitivity and imagination". When our desire is fleshed out in creative, sensitive, imaginative work - any type of work (physical, intellectual, relational, whatever) - that is when we become an artist.

2. What frightens you the most about getting older?

The capacity for sin within my heart. Wrinkles. Boys getting crushes on my little Abigail. Aaron dying before me. My parents dying. Seeing people that I know die without finding salvation in Christ, especially if I feel like I neglected to share the Truth in love with them at every opportunity. Not in that order! =)

3. When was the first time you travelled by air? Where did you go?

My uncle Tom (who has recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer - please pray for him.) was a pilot who probably took us on a short flight in a little plane at some point in time. But I don't really remember that, so I'll tell you about my first real flight.

When I was a freshman in high school I qualified to compete at the National FBLA conference. The conference was in Anaheim, CA. The week before the conference I was on a mission trip in Tijuana, Mexico building houses for Habitat for Humanity with my church youth group. On our way back from Mexico, the church van dropped me off at the Anaheim Hilton and I spent the next week there for the conference. (Nothing like going from the slums of Tijuana to the lobby of the Hilton for a reality check about American affluence and apathy toward the poor. Unfortunately, I was too excited about the sweeeeet swimming pool to fully appreciate the lesson at the time.) So, anyway, to get back home after the conference, I took a commercial flight, by myself. From LA to Portland (Oregon). The next flight I remember taking was also by myself, from Oregon to Iowa. I got lost and almost missed my connection in the Minneapolis airport. Not that you asked or anything, I'm just reminiscing here...

**Edited to add: I forgot to tag anyone, so here goes...I'm tagging kpjara (who I met at the KC Bloggers luncheon and is sometimes mistaken for the Great Kazoo, I mean Gazoo) and her sister - do you use your real name online? - (who I also met at the lunch, and who has an awesome testimony of being healed of terminal cancer. Read about it here and here.) Play along if you want to! **