Run Your Race

“Let us throw off every weight and run with endurance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews 12:1

We’ve all been running a lot this summer and that makes us think of feet. Those wonderful workhorses of our body that move us through our journey here on earth. This photo of a magnificent sculpture in south Louisiana had a magnetic pull on me last summer. A swift runner captured in flight. Running her race with determination and tenacity. Sure of her course and the prize ahead. The sculptor fashioned the delicate feet with attention to detail and the layers of weathered years, moss and lichen, now etched into her surface, only added a depth to her message … "Run your race with diligence."

We’ve been running our races with diligence lately. Always checking to make sure we are hearing God clearly and doing exactly what he has created us to do on this earth. (We’re learning a clue to this is usually doing what we find great joy in… kind of what’s already in our DNA from God). This passage has been our running fuel and the sideline cheering force to some of our new artwork. We brainstormed about it recently and Marybeth began creating again … the result is a celadon and sea glass colored palette of artwork that just makes your spirit soar and with the sentiment attached, it is heavenly. It’s kind of under wraps now and will be peeking out in 2012, but you can take its inspiration below today and begin to run your race with new enthusiasm. Especially when you realize that your path has already been marked out for you.

As every runner knows, one of the great things about running is that exhilaration that infuses your entire body at the end of the race. You did it! You finished! What a great feeling! It’s the kind of feeling expressed years ago by a man shortly before he moved to heaven … “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” II Timothy 4:7

So find that path that’s been marked out just for you and enjoy your journey today… really enjoy it. Travel it knowing that it's been pre-arranged just for you. No one else can run this one except YOU.

Laura & the Velvet Lime Girls

The Giant Oak Inside of You

Acorns. They’ve been a tiny participant in our design studio for several years. They first arrived a couple years ago following a walk . Acorns with their little “hats” were scattered under all the trees. I picked up one of these tiny little seeds and looked up at the massive tree canopy above, amazed that this would be the destiny of this tiny creation. James & I gathered several of these “message carriers” and he placed them on Marybeth’s desk. They sparked a creative force inside of her that was first seen in our photographic acorn series and now revealed in this fresh graphic artwork.

An acorn still amazes all of us. This tiny seed becomes a giant oak. By faith it “sees” its potential. Its future is always on its mind …looming over it while it is at its smallest point. It just sinks its tender roots down deeper into the soil when times are tough … it knows its destiny. It’s a destiny that is always clearly visible. No matter how small the acorn may begin, it knows it will become a majestic oak.

We hope you are encouraged to have faith to see beyond the things that may be sleeping in your life. Things that have the power and potential to change when fueled by faith. Faith does see the giant oak in the sleeping acorn.

Let the giant oak within you awaken today.

Laura

HOPE

Weave HOPE into your heart today. Hope – an earnest expectation, an anticipation, a belief or a trust. It’s more than a word. It’s a force that undergirds you and carries you forward with a strength that is beyond yourself. Hope is the silent strength that supports your dreams. When it’s woven into your heart it enables you to soar above any obstacle. Let this new artwork send you soaring with new hope today.

"Hope does not disappoint us ..." Romans 5:5

Laura

THRIVE

Thrive … it’s such an encouraging word. It just makes you want to pull yourself up and reach for the stars again … like this little passion flower growing in my garden. She’s growing in a forlorn section of my garden, an area overlooked and covered with weeds. Who would ever think that such beauty could come out of this mess? But here she is, with her perky little head adorned with enthusiasm, dressed and ready to go, as if she’s strolling into a grand gala.

Wow, what an entrance she makes! She barely notices the desolation around her and instead brightens her entire surroundings.

We’re encouraged to live this way. And we can, when our strength finds its roots in the nourishment that comes from connecting with God. Years ago, a psalmist said it this way ... You’re a tree planted by streams of water… your leaf does not wither…whatever you do prospers. Psalms 1:3

So, no matter what surroundings or circumstances you find yourself in, sink your roots down deep, nourish yourself in connection with God... and begin to flourish and thrive again.

Laura