Legacy Movement July 26-28 2012 in Chicago!

Posted on 06/23/2012 | Leave a comment

This year I’ll be going to the Legacy Movement. So excited. It will be an opportunity to meet other brothers and sisters in Christ, a chance to develop and grow as a disciple of Christ and to know more of how God is shaping my life. I can’t wait to connect with other artists and writers.

Shai Linne, Stephen The Levite, God’s Servant and Timothy Brindle (Lamp Mode Recordings) will be there! I really enjoy these bold rappers for Christ. Their music is never compromised and every time I listen to them, I always feel the need to crack open my Bible afterwards. I will certainly attend their concert. Furthermore, two poets whose work I admire will be there: Blair Linne (Shai’s wife) and Propoganda.

Slowly, the website has been revealing the different workshops and I feel like a kid in a candy shop. What workshop will I take? I’m a musician, a writer, a photographer, a mission-minded mother. I want to learn and know as much as possible. I see this conference as an opportunity to gain skills so that I may serve the Lord even more.

It’s been a long time since I’ve shared some of my writing/poetry. I’m looking for to sharing my poetry to others at the spoken word cafe. I’m quite nervous but I have to constantly remind myself that I am performing for an audience of One, with others around me. I shouldn’t be nervous before God; He’s my Father.

There is still time to sign up.

Check it out!! www.legacymovement.org.

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Posted in Writing

Songwriting and Sloppy Seconds

Posted on 05/19/2012 | Leave a comment

Have you ever written a song for someone or about someone you cared about and then later on decided that you wanted to change the lyrics and not make it about that person anymore? Not a big deal, right? What if you wrote a song about someone who was special to you but then that person turned out not to be who you thought he/she was, that person devastated you and now you feel the song seems dishonest (not that you wrote the song from a dishonest place), inauthentic; it has become meaningless? Not a problem changing the lyrics, correct?  Keep in mind the previous questions, especially the last one and now add to the mix that the lyrics will be changed and the song is now for God. Would this be wrong? Is this treating God as a spiritual sloppy seconds because it didn’t work out the first time with someone else. Am I not giving Him a used song?

Well, this is my dilemma. I guess you could say it is more of a spiritual dilemma. I had written a song for someone I deeply cared about, someone I loved. The song was truly an ode to that person. It turns out that that person hurt me in such a way that it had put doubts about the truth of that person. I had written a song for someone that I may not have really known; someone for whom I had added character value, rather than see him for who he truly was. I found this out in the most hardest and hurtful way. Now I look at the song as being written for a fraud, thus rendering the work fraudulent.

The majority of the music I compose now is about God/Christ. I still write other types of songs that may not be about Christ but are written for the glory of God (lullabies, songs about beauty/nature, instrumental music etc.). Songwriting is very personal for me. I take it seriously and each song is precious. The song I had written for the person has a beautiful melody but now the lyrics ring untrue, the person is untrue. However, by my changing the lyrics am I now saying, “Lord, I wrote this song with my whole heart for X. I’ve had this song for quite some time. Here, let me change the lyrics. It’s now for You.”  Am I making the Lord second place?  I brought up this question with my friend and brother in Christ, rapper Spoken. He quoted James 4:17

“So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

He said that if I feel that to change the lyrics would be sin then I must listen to my conscience and not change the lyrics. I guess I would just have to never play the song, maybe bury it. But I am not ready to do that and I’m not sure if I really want to do that. I know that I will never sing those lyrics again or desire to hear those lyrics sung (I’m sounding hurt, aren’t I?).  But, I just don’t want to discard the song; I want it to be meaningful and true again.

Spoken also added that he didn’t see a problem with rewriting the lyrics for God. For music is a gift of God, a gift from God, belonging to God, so by rewriting my song for God, I am giving God the honour He so deserves. I am taking what is His and giving it back to Him for His glory. I had never heard that perspective before and it got me thinking about it seriously.

I have been struggling a bit with this and would like to hear your thoughts on the matter. Have you ever gone through this process in your art, whatever the discipline? What do you think?

 

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Posted in Music, Writing

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Mother’s Day, the Most Artistic Holiday of the Year.

Posted on 05/13/2012 | Leave a comment

I love that Mother’s Day is usually a time when children are their most artistic. It could be picture frames made out of popsicle sticks, flowers made out of tissue paper or handmade cards with off-centered greetings. Mother’s Day is that occasion for art with perhaps Valentine’s Day coming a close second.

This year, I received a handcrafted flower made of construction paper and vase made from a mini plant holder that was painted, as well as a handmade bead bracelet from my 4 year old. I also received a lovely hand painted fish key-chain and a handmade card from my 7 year old. Both my sons then took me out for lunch to my favourite Salvadorean restaurant for some fantastic pupusas. These gifts were lovely and beautiful. It gave me so much joy to receive it as it gave them so much joy to make the gifts and surprise me with them.

Art truly comes from the heart (The pupusas…well from mommy’s wallet). I try to encourage my boys to use art to express themselves, to work out their understanding of God and the gospel, and to just be creative. They are both very good at drawing and painting and it is nice to see that along with memorizing Bible verses, they delight in the handiwork of God by the tangerine sun they just painted or what appears to be a stunted, lopsided white clay cow that they beat into submission.

I’m learning how to use art to share the beauty of the Gospel with my children. Sometimes I see glimmers of understanding as they sketch and then point out to me God’s truth in their artwork.  For example, Santiago told me that this picture is Jesus and the Cross. Seeing such wonderful moments reminds me to keep my art and my life gospel-centered. It’s not always easy because there is a tension at times between my ego and my passion to bring glory to my Triune God. I must always humbly remind myself that I am a creation that enjoys  creating because of the Creator.

Happy Mother’s Day and make some art with your children!

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Loving the Arts More Than Ever as a Believer in Christ

Posted on 05/11/2012 | Leave a comment

I love the arts. It has always been a part of my life from playing the piano, to painting, to writing, to photography, to anything artistic. I can’t imagine my life without any artistic expression. It would seem unnatural to me.

When I became a true believer in Christ, my passion for art exploded even more. Artistic vision and ideas continue to run through my head. When the Lord opened my eyes to His glory and majesty, I began to slowly digest the immense beauty of His Creation, I became breathless to His Handiwork. My senses awakened. I began to fall in love with nature, notice the variations of blues, greens, yellows, all the colours. I had a rediscovery with textures, the smoothness of stone, the crinkle of leaves beneath my feet, the cool caress of water. I now stop to smell the roses and a ripened pineapple.

Music has always been the heartbeat of my soul. I cherish sound: the sound of water, the sound of the wind, the sound of beautiful songs and hymns, the sound of laughter, the beat of the drum,  the voice of my sons, the pluck of a guitar, the vocal rhythm of the spoken word artist.  Knowing who Christ is makes music more special, more beautiful to me. It makes music-making all the more exciting, frustrating and glorious.

My art has taken a total new direction. I am humbled more than ever by the gift of making art in whatever form because it is a gift that only comes from one source, Christ. He uses my hands, my heart and my mind to create. As finite creatures, nothing we create comes close to what the Creator has already created. We cannot do anything that He hasn’t already done. The student is incapable of surpassing the Master. So, I call on Him to make art through me. He is my greatest resource, my palette, my voice, my pen and my inspiration.

{To send light into the darkness of men’s hearts – such is the duty of the artist.  ~Schumann}

Christ is my light, Christ is the light. As an artist, who is in love with the Lord, I desire that my work exude His light.

I had put my art aside in the past upon the concern and advice of well-meaning ‘wet-blankets’, but I will not any longer. As a Christian, art is a part of my faith and not separate. I believe it is necessary in the faith of every believer. It should not be destroyed, condescended or denied but seized and experienced for God’s glory.  Let us not forget that in Genesis 1, God created art, the most beautiful art.

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Posted in Writing

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Book Review – You Are A Writer by Jeff Goins (Goin Get It)

Posted on 05/07/2012 | Leave a comment

When I got Jeff Goins ebook on You Are A Writer (So Start Acting Like One), I was excited but at the same time my excitement was tempered with a bit of skepticism. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy www.goinswriter.com and I check it on a regular basis to be inspired and to be encouraged. Jeff Goins has a writing style that makes me feel as if I’m hanging out with a buddy, a buddy who cares. So, when the opportunity arose to get a copy of his book, I jumped at the chance. My hesitation was that I’ve read a lot of books on how to start your own career and/or live your passion. These books were OK, decent books with some nice tips and a “go-get ‘em” attitude. However, I’ve been for the longest time trying to kickstart my desire to leave my 9-5er and fulfill my calling but there wasn’t a book that got me to see the real issue.  As Jeff points out in his book, I am a writer the moment I say that I am and then I just need to write. It’s not when I’ve published that ultimate novel or get paid for my first article. I used to think that way, which paralyzed me and led to the next important issue: valuing accolades over passion. Jeff tackles the definition of what makes one a writer, the fears of not owning that you are writer. He also gives practical advice, tools to challenge me, to build my platform and to live my passion (which is not just writing but writing is a part of it).  Jeff Goins’ or Goins’s (I’ll work on my grammar later)  You Are A Writer is a practical, motivational and applicable book. I highly recommend it.

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Video

Lord, I am breathless by Your creation

Last summer, I was in Cuba. I was on the rooftop of the apartment building of my family at around 11pm taking clothes off the clothesline. All of a sudden I saw a beautiful display of lightning behind the clouds. Every blast of light was an extraordinary hue of colour. I was in awe. I scrambled down to the apartment to get my camera and to videotape it since my basic point & shoot couldn’t take a still photo (I needed a tripod).  Enjoy.

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Posted on 02/15/2012 in Video, Visual

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