26. May 2010 by Starr.

Look for Starr’s article, “Separation Anxiety and Psychosomatic Illness in the Classroom” in the back-to-school issue of “Teachers of Vision,” 2010.

 Also, look for her article, “The Father’s Day,” in “Insight” Magazine’s June, 2011 issue.

Recent publishes on eHow.com:

How to Make a Lily Pond

How to Improve Communication with a Difficult Person

Posted in Non-Fiction Projects | No Comments »

18. May 2010 by Starr.

Recently I watched a documentary about the life of writer, dancer, and painter, and extraordinary woman, Marta Becket.  I can’t stop thinking about it.  She left New York after finding a run=down theatre in a small town with a population of 10.  The town is Death Valley Junction, California.  How amazing that she would bring life to a place that was surrounded by sands of the desert.  What some people might see as “wasteland” or “badlands,” Marta saw as passion potential. 

Passion potential.  I think in every artist, be they painter, writer, dancer, singer, songwriter, sculptor, actor, or etc., has that passion to accomplish what their soul is crying out to fulfill.

Henry James once said, “We work in the dark- we do what we can- we give what we have.  Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task.  The rest is madness of art.”  Some may call it madness.  Therefore, therein lies the quandry for us.  For many do not understand that passion or that madness.  

Marta Becket speaks in the documentary about her Amargosa Opera House, that she was not a perfect wife.  She said that her husband left her in the midst of her Opera House project.  She was painting murals on the walls and ceilings of Amargosa.  She mentions that she feels that perhaps he left because, even though she had great passion for her craft, and she had great talent for painting and for the dance…her talents didn’t include being a gourmet cook or doing tasks that wives usually did.  She says that, for example, her kitchen was filled with paint.  That makes sense to me, for, the kitchen is the heart of the home.  If her heart is filled with paint, doesn’t it make sense that her kitchen would be? 

But Marta’s husband did not understand that.  Therefore, her husband left.  She was greatly hurt by his abandonment, not only of her, but of her project.  My take on this, as a fellow artist is, to Marta….he abandoned her passion.  For a partner, a mate, or someone who is supposedly the other half of our lives to abandon our passion….this is the greatest of travesties.  It is treason to our souls.  It is not something that can heal easily, if ever on this planet.  Only the Healer, God Almighty, can help us with that one.

I completely relate to Marta.  I used to dance in my life, and recall how it felt to do so, but that part of my life is now in the past.   It is hurtful to discuss, but that is an over subject.  I, too, have been abandoned by a husband in the midst of a project.  I know the pain of that.  I also, feel my passion in my “kitchen.”  My first devotional book for women is titled, “Watermelons In the Kitchen.” 

However, in my home, I’m not sure my kitchen is the heart of it.  I think my bedroom is the heart of my home.  I have a wonderful large sofa, and a wonderful antique desk and an antique lamp that is the only project my mom and I have ever done together.  That room is where all of the important talks go on.  That is where I do most of my thinking…praying…crying, and all of my first drafts of everything are written in there, either in my mind or on paper.  That is where the heart of this home is, I believe. 

That room is where most of the ink is, also.  Papers, pencils, pens, notebooks, books…but it doesn’t stop there.  Folders, books, manuels on various subjects, market guides, envelopes, reams of paper, staplers, pencil sharpeners, slips of notes where I have jotted down ideas or thoughts that only make sense to me lay almost everywhere, and it may look like mayhem to someone else, but to me, it makes perfect sense.  I am sure it is difficult, for someone to accept this “mess” as “art.”

Another thing Marta said that broke my heart when I heard it, she said about her husband, “Didn’t he know, that I was working on a project, and that one day it would be finished?  I just wanted to do well.  Didn’t he want me to do well?”

Some of us are just created to be passionate, artistic, people….that run for the “madness of art.”  We can’t help it.  We just are created that way.  Some people just don’t “get us.”  They don’t understand why we aren’t “normal.”  I have had someone say to me…”Why don’t you just live in the real world?”  Well, if I lived completely in the real world, I wouldn’t be a writer, would I?

Marta Becket talks about how she chooses her world of the dance, and of her Opera House, instead of the “real world” outside of it.  And because of that, she has created this awesome place in the Death Valley.  I’m so glad that she did.

Marta…I’m glad that you wrote “To Dance on Sands.”  You are such an inspiration to passion-filled artists everywhere.  You are definitely a flower in the desert.  I’m sorry you never got your Dad’s approval.  I know how that feels to never get someone’s approval, also.  But  know, that your Heavenly Father approves of you very, very much. 

http://www.amargosa-opera-house.com/

Author’s Note:

My special thanks to Marta Becket, for giving me permission to use her image for this blog, and to Richard Rignell, Director of Operations, Amargosa Operation House & Hotel, for responding for Marta via email and ensuring that she read this blog.  (Marta, I’m glad that you were touched.  You have touched my life, also.)

Posted in Thoughts from Starr's Desk | 1 Comment »

16. May 2010 by Starr.

(Aslan:  A messianic figure in C.S. Lewis’s “Cronicles of Narnia.”)

The Chronicles of Narnia and the meanings of it, have been argued for years.  Many similarities to the Bible, however, cannot be argued.  As a writer, the importance of every character, every word, every action by every character, and even every single scene, is vital to the one writing it.  In other words, NOTHING IS BY ACCIDENT.  Let me propose this thought:  C.S. Lewis was an expert in mythology having studied it from an early age. It is utterly impossible that he did not know what he was writing.

Many believe that the lion, Aslan, depicts Christ and represents how Christ would appear if He were to appear in a fantasy world where animals could talk.  Many other references, also, are within the novels.  I won’t list them all here, but will leave them for the writer, C.S. Lewis to reveal to you, on his own.

If you have never read “The Chronicles of Narnia,”  I highly suggest you do so.  You will be blessed, not only when looking at it from a perspective of Biblical similarities, but also just for the pleasure of a wonderful work of fiction.

(Peter in battle, wearing the armor, holding the shield with the Lion crest.)

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16. May 2010 by Starr.

(The Lion of Judah on the coat of arms of Jerusalem.)

(The Lion of Judah is a deliberate direct reference to a worthy Prince “Of the Blood of Christ.”)

“And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.” (Revelation 5:5)

Many have noticed that my blog site has been quiet this last week.  In all honesty, since the day before Mother’s Day, I have been in several spiritual battles and felt defeated, victorious, exhausted, energized, ready for battle, and like I was on death’s door from the battle, at one time or another, this past week.  I have felt like I have been on a roller coaster. 

Allow me to propose this scenario.  A man was standing on the street corner.  Jesus was discussing with that man the importance of giving his life to the Father.  The man says to him, “Well give me an example of how my life will be.  Show me one week in the life of some random Christian person.  If it’s good, I’ll give my heart to the Lord.”

If Jesus was to show my last week to that man, the man would surely run wildly away screaming ”No!  I don’t want all the stresses of a life like that!”

But here’s the thing…being a Christian, doesn’t mean having a life without stress, pain, or problems.  Jesus never promised it would be perfect or we would be perfect.  After all, if we were perfect or our lives would be perfect, would we need God?

God has promised us victory in the midst of trials, not immunity from pain.  “Do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ.”  (1 Peter 4:12-13)

Remember that you have the Lion of the Tribe of Judah battling beside you.  When you put on the armor of God, you have the very best armor possible! Sometimes it does get exhausting, and we want to just relax for a moment, feeling battle-worn, and we want to put our shields down a moment and rest.  Friends, the moment we do that- the moment we put down our “shields of faith” we open ourselves up to the arrows from the enemy.  (Keep in mind that this can mean that you can be the one attacked, OR the one doing the attacking!  Being hit by the enemy sometimes does cause us to think we are so very right in our actions, and sometimes causes us to harm others in the process of our words or deeds.  If we take an action not out of love, that’s still a hit against us, if we allowed it.  It’s a hit against the other person, also.  Basically, it’s a double-whammy!)  Even when we rest, we have to keep the shield of faith up.  Your shield depicts the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.  Have you ever considered that you fight for that tribe, also?  Being a man or woman of Faith, means holding that shield of fiath up always.  You are part of God’s army.

“Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

“And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints….”  Ephesians 6:10-18

We must remember to live in the safety of the armor of God.  This gives us a oneness with Jesus, so we can expect to share his struggles, as well as His peace.  “Put on Christ.”  (Galatians 3:27)  He is your victory.

“Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”  (1 Corinthians 15:56)

Author’s Note :

In ancient times there were 12 tribes of Jewish people. Out of those 12 there was a tribe that the Jewish priests had to come from and a tribe where the Kings came from. Jesus was descendant of the tribe of the Kings, which was called Judah, thus the Lion of Judah. The Lion being the King of the Jungle.

(My special thanks to God who provided me with an inspiring writing jacket.  I needed this jacket, and this jacket needed a home.  This is the first blog that the jacket has experienced.     My Prayer:  God, You are my Ultimate Muse, may you bless the feet that brought this jacket to me, with your warmth, comfort and love.  May you bless all that read these blogs…may they glorify You and may all who see this blog hold up their shields of faith strongly with courage and love for their Lord.  Help me, to follow Your will =my writing and my life is Yours…I publically confess now that I do not have a perfect life, I am not a perfect person…and praise be to You, God that You are not looking for perfect people to be warriors in Your war, You are seeking willing warriors.  You use ordinary people who simply want to see what’s right be right, but who understand that without You, they can do nothing.  Thank You, for battling beside me.  Thank You for battling beside all of Your children.  I love You, Lord………and I lift my shield…my sword….my pen.   CS)

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7. May 2010 by Starr.

I can remember hearing this statement:   “Don’t do that or you’ll be in a ‘heap of trouble.’ 

Okay, well, that didn’t really scare me.  I pictured a ‘heap’ in my mind as being small…maybe about the size of a lump of dough. I’m not sure I really understood the entire “heap” thing.  However, the statement is still true, if we do something incorrect- against ourselves or against God, we will, indeed be in a heap of trouble. 

The statement about the heap may have been correct, I however was incorrect.  If you look up ‘heap’ in the dictionary, the definition of it is :  many things together as a mass.  Have you ever been in a situation or situations where there are just so many issues going on that it just feels like everything is just piling up, one thing on top of another, higher and higher and higher…and soon, it begins to feel like a mountain, doesn’t it? 

After years of that, it does become a mountain, in a sense.  Things begin to grow on it, or out of it.  That “heap” takes on a life of it’s own.  It sprouts “trees” or vines ….regains hard spots or “rocky places”…places you begin to hide or think you hide from people become “caves” and you begin to build that mountain higher and higher and higher and it begins to feel very scary.  We wonder what monsters lurk within that mountain.  We wonder how they got there in the first place!  Bigfoot and Sasquatch have nothing on these kind of creatures, for these creatures are shape shifters and can change from person to person and they know each person’s worse fear.

Ah…there’s that four letter little f-word. FEAR- or I’d rather think of it as, False Evidence Appearing Real. 

Take a look at what God has to say about Fear.

“God is our refuge and our strength, and ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though the waters roar and foam, and the mountains quake with their surging. Be still and know that I am God.”  (Psalm 46)

Friends, I have read that passage for years.  For years every single time I read that, in my mind I pictured an image exactly like the image I have posted at the top of this blog.  A beautiful mountain and a lovely sea.  I pictured God, being able to literally toss the mountains into the sea, so…knowing that if He could do that action, certainly He could handle my problems, too!  Folks, that’s true!  But, there is a deeper meaning here for us, as well.  Let me share with you something I saw in this passage last night. 

Hebrews 12:2 states that “Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.”  I know that with God, He is the ultimate Author and he did not just toss words willy=nilly into our Bible, but every -single-word was put in there for a reason, specifically for a purpose.  The Bible tells us that every single thing about us was created on purpose for a reason, so definitely He would do the same with His words.  As a writer as well, I know the value of words.  Every word has meaning!  Lets take a closer look at the above passage.

I looked each of the words in Psalm 46 up in the dictionary.  Here is what I found.

Mountains:  a large pile or heap      

Fall:  to descend, tumble, collapse, to be wounded or killed in battle, to sin

Heart:  Hollow muscular organ that circulates the blood by alternate dilation and contraction.  human heart- center of emotions.  the central or vital part- the core.         

Sea:  any of various smaller bodies of salt water

Lets talk about these definitions a moment.  So a heap and a mountain are the same thing in the dictionary by definition.  As far as falling….in the scripture when it mentions the mountain falling into the sea….can you see God seeing your problems (mountain or heap of troubles) literally descending, tumbling, collapsing…into the sea?  No?

I didn’t see that, either.  For some reason…that seemed far reaching into my human mind.  The problems were too big…the sea was too far away…the sea was too beautiful for God to throw my heap o’troubles into!

Ah…but then here comes the next part of the scripture…

 “God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

Remember fall also means, to be wounded, or killed in battle.  Ever felt wounded or killed in battle?  Fall also means to sin.  Ever sinned?  I’ve done and felt all of those.  Have your mountains (heap of troubles) ever left you wounded…ever left you sinful?  ever left you feeling like a part of you died in the battle?….

The heart… I find it wonderful that God uses the organ in our bodies that circulates the BLOOD.  Blood is such a powerful thing…He uses it in sacrifice in the Old Testament…He uses it for His Blood Covenants…He used it for protection in the Passover.  But the heart circulates the blood by alternate dilation and contration.  What does that remind us of?  The rising and the swelling of the SEA.

Remember the sea is….any of various SMALLER BODIES OF SALT WATER.  Can you think of any small bodies of salt water?     

What are tears?   The dictionary says:  Drops of the salty fluids which fall from the eye.

What is the eye?  The dictionary says:  The organ of sight-judgement-vision-observation-opinion

Don’t we roar and just sob sometimes when we cry?  We sometimes just feel like we are foaming…our heart is just sobbing so hard, our chest is literally pounding…it is like the tide of the sea pounding on the beach, and the seafoam is washing harder and harder on the beach.  It hurts, because our heap of troubles just crumbled into the heart of our judgement…and we see that we were wrong about something…or were wronged…we were wounded…or we saw something wrongly….or we sinned and we made problems for ourselves or a hundred other scenarios that it could be based on these definitions of these words…everyone’s situation is different…but we are all human and no matter the situation, God knows each one, personally.

My friends, lets take a look at the scripture in whole, again so I can show you in fullness, my point this morning that God laid on my “hollow muscular organ…my center of my emotions.”

“God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way  and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though the waters roar and foam, and the mountains quake with their surging.  Be still and know that I am God.”

It’s not easy to not fear.  After all, God warns us here.  He says…”though the waters roar and foam (basically, I see this as…though you’ll cry alot, sob tears of pain…) and the mountains quake with their surging…(your heap of troubles will try their hardest to scare you and try to get your attention).   God guides us with what to do when all of this happens. 

One thing that I love…is that last night…I was thinking how wonderful that the definition for sea is “any of various smaller bodies of salt water” and God created us that our tears are salt water.   Friends….isn’t it awesome that to God….ONE…1…tiny tear is as important to Him as the sea?  One tear?  He doesn’t say seassss.  He says….the mountain falls into the SEA. 

Friends, God sees your heart in one tear.  One tear is all it takes.  Do not fear.  That is a four letter word.  Make that a word just as bad as the “other words” that you’d rather not say. 

Just be still…know that He is God.  He’s got you.  Go to Him with faith and trust.  He will move that mountain out of your way so that it isn’t fearful, anymore.  He will keep your heart safe, and guide your tears into tears of joy.

If you’ve never read all of Psalm 46, I suggest you do so.  You’ll thoroughly enjoy it and gain understanding. 

May God bless you and keep you today.

 A special hello and welcome to all the new friends who have registered on my blog site.  I hope you enjoy reading them and please feel free to email prayer requests anytime. 

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