What Am I Giving?

What a fun time of the year Christmas is!  Plans are laid, raw materials selected, ideas become reality as saws buzz, sand paper scritches, and paint is applied.  There is a lot of joy that comes from creating and giving!  This little tractor and hay wagon were so much fun to build.  An even greater joy was envisioning the little hands and fingers that will be unloading the hay bales and driving the tractor.  Today my little grandson Caleb should receive this package in the mail for Christmas.  Merry Christmas, Caleb!

Instead of drawing with a pencil this week, you would have found me with a woodburner in my grip.  It has been an enjoyable diversion from my usual art work.  Wood is very different from paper and it's been an interesting support to explore.  Here is an example of what I've been burning:

Michelangelo has been closely supervising my activity until he couldn't keep his eyelids open any longer.  So he's shown here stretched out taking five.

Observing the Advent season greatly helps me to focus on the WHY of Christmas.  I enjoy the daily meditations in Preparing for Jesus by Walter Wangerin, Jr.   This is about my 14th year to read through it. Wangerin excavates all the facts and persons involved in the Christmas story, bringing out some unique perspectives.  Pictured above is a painting of the Nativity scene by one of my favorite animal artists, Dutch painter Rien Poortvliet, in his book Dutch Treat.  

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes that " the celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, who look forward to something greater to come".  I like that.  

To the question in my post title, "What Am I Giving?", I think of Christina Rosetti's poem as a response and challenge for me at Christmas:

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a Wise Man
I would do my part, –
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give my heart.

(Jesus was the sacrificial Lamb of God)

(Sheep grazing on hillside above Bethlehem)

These last two photos are of some large murals I created a number of Christmases ago.

 Merry Christmas!

Be brave and courageous!