There is Nothing I Can Give You Which You Have Not

I salute you and there is nothing I can give which you have not, but there is much while I cannot give it, you may take it. No heaven can come to us unless we find it in our hearts today. So take heaven. No joy can come to us, unless it comes to us in this present moment. Take joy. No peace can come to us, unless we find it right now. Take peace. (Father Giovanni, 1513)

Franz Cižek (Austrian artist, 1865-1946) Santa with Toys 1910-20 

Merry Christmas!

Have a Defiant Christmas

Attributed to and contributed by John Shea, writer, storyteller and Catholic theologian, written in 2000:

Some Christmas I am going to send out a Christmas card that will look like this. On the cover there will be three images. The first image will be a star brightly shining but it will be surrounded by darkness. The second image will be an evergreen but it will be surrounded by trees without leaves. The third image will be the traditional one, it will be a child wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger, but the child will be surrounded by a ramshackle stable. When you open the card, inside there will be in very bold print, "Have a Defiant Christmas!"

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The first image will be a star brightly shining but it will be surrounded by darkness. 

The second image will be an evergreen but it will be surrounded by trees without leaves.

The third image will be the traditional one, it will be a child wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger, but the child will be surrounded by a ramshackle stable. 

When you open the card, inside there will be in very bold print, "Have a Defiant Christmas!"

Shea goes on to say that there is defiance in the light and darkness cannot overcome it.  About the lone tree with greenery when all other trees have no branches, he says the evergreens defy defoliage and give us a sense of life.  The baby in a ramshackle manger? Well, that is imagery for a child who was sheltered and given hospitality in a land and time when there was great rejection.

Shea's entire article can be accessed here where he talks more in depth about the imagery.

A defiant Christmas?  It's something to ponder.  Read others' Pauses in Advent here for more meditations during this Christmas season.  I'll be having a Defiant Christmas and hope you do as well.

Wrapping up the Project Week

Finished Objects on Friday, one knit and one painted.  Linking up with Tami at Finished Objects Friday.
And linking to Fiber Arts Friday.

Elowen Shawl pattern found here

purl bump pattern

The pattern gave me a bit of trouble at first.  But it ended up being a generous size (59" x 24") and the colors go well with denim and grey.

And then a completed silk painting that took the Frame Depot longer to matte and frame than it took me to paint.  But they did a great job after lots of discussion on how to stretch the fabric without tearing the edges.  The technique Mr. Framer used was called "sinked" as it was stretched over foam board with another layer of foam board cut around the stretched silk, then matted and glass covering it and a frame edging cut to size and attached. I could not get a straight picture with the matte looking other than whoppy-jawed, so just did a close up of the silk.

Matted and framed with non-glare glass; dimensions 39" x 31"

This will go over our fire place after Christmas.

Did you finish any projects this week?  One project we still need to complete today is cleaning off the gunk on the top of the ceiling fan blades.  Would Tami allow me to show a picture of the dust before I get up on the ladder to clean and then after?  Think not.  But go visit her blog to see others' finished objects on Friday. And be sure to look at Fiber Arts Friday where there is lots of alpaca going on.