My mind traveled on to AMEN Handmade, and how we love things to look worn, flawed, one of a kind. There's also a major uprising going on right now (ucc) of young crafters (renegade) and artists (capsule) who share the same feeling, selling wobbly, almost childlike drawings, and lopsided craft-monsters, funky felted purses where you can see the stitching, and clothing with raw edges exposed. EXPOSED. That's the key word, I think. There's something in all of these experiences that lets you into the secret little world of the person who made it. Somehow you feel that you've gotten to see a glimpse of their honest soul - the inmost part of their creative heart, and that..... that is something precious. More precious than ever in this world quick notes and backward glances, top eight friends and wall-to-walls.
Last weekend at the poorly attended Paso Robles Digital Film Festival, Ann and I were lucky enough to get situated next to a man with a positive attitude. A silversmithing storyteller.
And, he told us a good one as we were about to pack up and go home. In the story of the "Cracked Pot", a water carrier took water in two jugs back to his master's house time after time. One perfect pot, and one cracked. The cracked one was very ashamed of it's flaw, and always apologizing, until the water carrier helped it to see that it was watering flowers all along the roadside each time it was carried, and that the flowers were known throughout the land for their beauty.
Maybe the parts of us that are different are ready to be shared, and maybe what the world sees as awkward or flawed is actually just the intricate and beautiful work of the master's hand?
So, I am not sure why I am writing this (or crying about it), but I know there is something in all of us that longs to connect... to really know and be known. I will end with this verse, which has been a particular treasure to me of late:
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 1 Cor 13:12
6 comments:
Well said, Eva. In fact, i think we should replace our "at the heart" with this post on our amen blog. What do you think? Beauty from ashes... and we don't fully comprehend it yet :)
Wow, I just finished reading this entry and have tears coming down my face!!! I was thinking about something similar at dinner on Thursday, as we quietly began eating while Neil Young played in the background. It was a concert he did when he was only 23, and he was so nervous he had to literally be coaxed onto the stage. Even at such a young age he had the same beautifully rough, yet warbled quality to his voice that he has today. He was just up there singing his heart out, it seemed, and I had to hold back tears for all the staggering beauty of life that was the only apparent thing right then and there. I was so grateful.
And I'm so honored and happy to have been a partial catalyst for these thoughts you had, and the beautiful piece of writing you made to share them.
(c:
xo
Thanks guys! I think it would be great to post on our "at the heart". Maybe we can still keep the old one on there, but put this one at the top since I know it's what we've been thinking about now. Oh, the beauty... from mere ashes!
what is "at the heart?" Maybe i should just go the amen blog and find out, hmm??
Beautiful Eva. Thank you for sharing.
So great to hear this. :) You have such a way with words, cuts right to the heart of what so many of us sense and feel. Thanks for the encouragement. I'm going to meditate on that Corinthians verse for a while- It's been on my mind, but has escaped my direct attention.
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