From: Muriel L
December 11th - An Ordinary Day - NOT
Hello, Initiative and Unity Center Friends,
Yesterday started out lackluster, as I hauled my perplexed, weary body into my jeep and headed for the Unity Center. My head wasn't quite in the right place. Life stuff, Christmas rushing in, and not having everything planned out well, left me feeling not good enough.
But YESTERDAY WAS a great clean up day for us IIAW volunteers at the Unity Center! LDS missionaries and members were out in full force again - 40 strong. We did meal prep for the homeless Beloveds, Sister Corrie Clasen did her usual magic organizing a crew for a regular building cleaning, another group hauled renovation debris from RUTH HOUSE on the 2nd floor, and we even had enough for President Cato to assign a litter crew to go with Bishop Vaka to the Square. Everyone was happy and fully engaged, though we were rather organized chaos at first. That is par at every big clean up event. We've come to expect that. Brother Giddeon did masterful prayer and we got started.
The icing on the cake for me were the piles of floor tile chips in RUTH HOUSE rooms. I almost stopped the volunteers from taking them. The textured lines of the adhesive on the back of the tiles. WOW! They would be wonderful art project material. I managed to pull a small tubful of scraps out of the dumpster and started into a project at my studio after the clean up. Yes. I can be a dumpster diver.
I pulled a small pile of leftover scraps from my jacket pocket. Those were leftovers I found on the RUTH HOUSE floor. They tumbled out of my hand onto the piece of matboard. A couple of shoves to spread them out on the board to see what might appear. I took a picture of it. It suggested a tree, so I began to move the pieces around to create one. I actually love the "unconstructed tree" more than the tree I spent so much time designing. The first "tree" leaves more for the viewer to find and figure out for themselves. Is it a tree or something else? An upside down pot? I see birds, flowers, a funnel, an arm with a hand pointing up, people, a music note, an angel. Now, I'm sorry I dismantled it. I like it so much I think I will reconstruct the "unconstructed tree". So glad I took the snap shot. To think I had something very interesting that took 30 seconds to produce, and I spent a bunch of time making something that isn't half so interesting, expressive, or challenging to look at. I learned big lessons in this project.
NEXT DOOR neighbor Penny Browning came by the studio to buy luminaria bags and candles. It's my personal fundraiser for the Unity Center. She gave some to her neighbors on 37th Street and they lit them up last night. She sent me a picture and video. I LOVE it! Penny is a precious, generous new friend who GETS me and I GET her. She is a DOER and loves people. It's in her DNA, who she is. I am finding women like Penny all the time these days, who are great fun to run with, and love living life with their neighbors. I love them and they seem to genuinely enjoy hanging out with me. Pretty cool! This is where the action is and the love, JOY, and peace!
Yesterday truly was a great day! I learned so much! LIKE: Go for LOVE always. Avoid anything if LOVE isn't in it! Make sure you work something you love to do into every day. Quick and fast is good sometimes! Life with volunteer friends and neighbors is AMAZING! We really are better together than we are alone. Adhesive applied to the back of floor tile and hidden for 100 years has a chance to be turned into thought provoking art. Figure that? SOMETHING can come from NOTHING. Who knows what God will do with me then? Keep moving forward even if you don't feel like if and don't have it all together. God will provide what you lack. Amazing, miraculous things happen when you don't give in or give up! Trust others to figure things out and show your appreciation.
If God can do this in one day with an ordinary IIAW clean up event, I wonder what else He has in store for us? INCREDIBLE!!! Thank you, Jesus, for letting me be a part of all of this! I can hardly wait to wake up tomorrow morning!
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