Workshop or conference. Was there a conference or workshop you attended that was especially beneficial? Where was it? What did you learn?

In January I led a workshop at Mondo Presbyterian Educators’ Conference in God’s Country. The schedule allowed me to take two workshops during my off times, and I resolved to take one “frivolous” one. So I signed up for a workshop on how to make minibooks and journals. I had so much fun! The photo above is from some other site, but I made several of the books pictured. It was fun to get out of my brain and just play with paper.

I preached today about repentance as a process of letting go—not just letting go of the things we traditionally call “sinful,” but also letting go of old scripts and ways of thinking that are not life-giving. One of the things I’ve often said about myself is “I’m not crafty or artistic.” I’ve tried to expunge that phrase from my vocabulary. Not because I’m particularly gifted in that area, but just because it’s fun to play with paper and color, and a negative message can stifle creativity.