Treasure Hunting

One of my favorite things to do is what I like to call treasure hunting. I wear a special pair of boots on days reserved for this. Call me crazy, but I always seem to find the best treasures on days that I wear my special boots. There's nothing magical about them, just a serendipitous way of looking at them. So, I love to scour thrift shops with nothing particular in mind. My radar searches for old chandeliers, buttons, ornate frames, crafting supplies and anything that can be brought back to life with a freshness that will bring delight. It never fails that my creativity is on high alert when I begin to feel the material of clothing that has been abandoned by one, only to be rescued by another. You know the old cliche; one man's trash is another man's treasure.

The way that I look at it is that I can either pay full price for something, or I can pay a little of nothing and have much more. As I walk the color coded isles of clothing I let the colors, patterns, and types of fabric come to life in ways that are far from the factory rendition of the clothing itself. Recently, my daughters and I went treasure hunting for material to make aprons. We hit the thrift store on half price day and rummaged the skirt isle. We had so many ideas for aprons that we had to limit our supply. We were in overload - with both skirts and creative ideas.

A few years ago my son was stationed in Fort Huachuca, Arizona to complete his training for the Army. My daughters and I flew in to spend the fourth of July with him. We took a small trip to Bisbee, Arizona; a quaint little Swiss looking town that is now inhabited by old hippies. The town is full of antique shops, thrift stores, restaurants, and fabulous houses. It was during this escapade that I realized that all three of my children loved walking through the shops and finding treasures. I bought us all a few to take back to our respective homes. I found this adventure to be enlightening because as much as I love to treasure hunt, this is the one experience that stands above all the rest. I embraced sharing my passion with my children and seeing their faces light up with the same delight that I felt.

I reflected on the passages in Colossians 2:3 that speaks of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and in Matthew 6:20 that tells us to store our treasures in heaven. Of all the treasure hunting I've done or will do, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt the treasures that I will have with me throughout eternity are my three most prized possessions - my children.

Thank you Lord for your gift of salvation, for the wisdom and the knowledge to pass on to my children this message, for rescuing each of us with your saving grace, and for the greatest of all treasures - to spend eternity together with You.

Serendipitous Life

The reason I named this blog Serendipitous Life is because I love the word SERENDIPITY. The dictionary defines it as the effect by which one accidentally stumbles upon something fortunate, especially while looking for something entirely unrelated. I began writing a book at the beginning of 2009 about my life and it was then that I realized just how serendipitous so many incidents have turned out to be. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I believe in the total sovereignty of God and that He has a perfect plan and will for my life. I give Him credit for all of the blessings He has bestowed upon me. I also know that we are given a free will to respond with. Yet in the scheme of things, me being a human and such, life does present experiences that play out quite fortuitously and I choose to call these serendipitous.

Other words are used in conjunction with serendipity. For example, Carl Jung coined the word synchronicity and defined it much like serendipity in that it is an experience incorporating two or more events that are fundamentally isolated but occur simultaneously in a significant manner. In order to be considered synchronicity, however; the events should be unlikely to occur collectively by fortuitous circumstances. The concept does not query, or contend with, the concept of causality. It alternatively avows that merely as episodes may be classified into categories of cause, they might be categorized by their gist as well. Since the gist of something (or rather the meaning) is such a multifaceted mental structure that is subject to cognizant and involuntary influence, the correlation in the alignment of events by meaning needs no explanation in cause and effect stipulations.

Carl Jung (1952) conveyed a story in his book Synchronicity using an example of a synchronistic event (1). One of his clients had a dream that she was given a golden scarab. In the middle of telling this dream, an insect with the same characteristics as a golden scarab beetle flew into Jung’s window and he caught it before it landed. The beetle was out of its element and happened to appear in the darkly lit room at this given moment. He stated that nothing like this had happened to him before or since. Hence the connection between ideas is structured logically therefore allowing interactions that are not contributory in kind. One of Jung's preferred quotes on synchronicity was from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass where the White Queen proclaims to Alice: "It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards". (2, 3). Somehow, I can totally align myself with this statement. As an artist, so many stereotypical qualities emerge, none as uncommon as a “memory working backwards”. Sometimes I think my entire mind works backwards.

If Carl Jung were still alive, I would be an excellent working case for him, that’s for sure. But an artist I am with the God given talent to create. That’s what I love most and do best – create. So, for the creative at heart and partial minded, this blog will encapsulate my life as a creative mind just trying to do what she loves best – help those that feel like they are unmistakably different in many ways and how I am learning to trust in the Lord to reveal His plan for my life.

1. The Collected Works of C.G. Jung, paragraph 843, Princeton University Press Edition.

2. The Collected Works of C.G. Jung, paragraph 843, Princeton University Press Edition.

3. Lecture notes, Jung Foundation, New York City, 1980s.