- By Missy Hancock
Are you in as desperate a need for encouragement as I am? Sometimes, we need only to look inside ourselves. What are the deep truths we have come to know?
For me, I KNOW that GOD in all His wisdom, knows, wishes, & WANTS BETTER FOR ME than I could ever hope for, strive for, or finagle for myself. And so when I find myself back in that place of utter helplessness, I must remember that I am in the hands of a most able God and in my weakness, He is strong. And if He has brought me here to this place again, it is only because He is calling me back to Himself- to total dependence on Him.
I KNOW that I am CALLED TO LOVE instead of hate. This seems like a no-brainer until the stress and struggles of everyday life close in and some stupid person who can't drive, cuts me off or signals one direction and moves their vehicle in the other. Or when someone I love causes me unnecessary stress and struggle and I just want to explode all over them and make them feel as rotten as I think they have made me feel. The truth, however, is that no one can make me feel any way that I don't permit them to. And I can choose to show loving kindness in the face of adversity, but it is a choice that I unfortunately forget to make far too often. It is just so much easier to react, instead of make a conscious choice to LOVE.
I KNOW that I am CALLED TO ENCOURAGE instead of envy, but when I look around and it seems like the whole world is succeeding and everyone elses' lives are rosebuds and cherries and my life is full of thorns and pits, I forget. And then I remember a line from a poem my dad and mom used to read me as a child "all that you send into the lives of others comes back into your own." And I remember that those perfect lives I percieve others to lead are filled with their own obstacles and pain and they, quite likely, percieve my life to be rosebuds and cherries, as well. We all face the thorns and the pits and the best way to come through them unscathed and un-scarred is in the loving arms of friendship. We send a kind encouragement or pray with a friend and our hearts are encouraged as well. Envy does nothing for us, but leave us alone and bitter.
And I KNOW that I KNOW that I KNOW that I am called to BELIEVE and to DREAM instead of despair, and to MOVE FORWARD IN FAITH instead of stagnate and flounder in fear.
The other day, I felt like the GREAT "I AM" gave me a wonderful exercise to help keep me on track in the storms of everyday life. He told me to list my personal "I am's" and to place them before my eyes, using them as a compass, a check-list of sorts. Here was my list of "I am's."
I Am...
a Child of God....
A Wife.....
A Lover.....
A Mother....
An Encourager.....
A Writer.....
An Artist.....
A teacher....
A Friend......
A Healer.
*May each day of my life reflect these things and may I fulfill each of these roles to the best of my ability and through the loving kindness and help of my friend and my God.
I challenge you to take the "I am...challenge". You may be surprised and find an "I am" in there that you weren't expecting. I know when I first did this exercise, I had the impression that I should write, "a healer," but I thought that was ridiculous and ignored it at first. Upon closing my journal, I felt an overwhelming urge to re-open it and scrawl "a healer" onto the list, but I added a disclaimer of "(? I don't know where this comes from, but I felt it- so I decided I should write it?)". I was embarrassed to record it, even in my own private journal, without a disclaimer. But the Lord has plans for us quite often that are not our own and if we let Him- He will walk those plans out in our lives. Don't be afraid to record those things that don't seem true to you yet. Yield to the Spirit of God and write it down in faith, trusting Him to bring all of your "I am's" into fruition.
We are not alone on this planet of discovery. We have each other and most importantly, if we so choose, we have a Guide available to us who is patient, kind, and all-knowing.
Be Blessed!
-Missy Hancock
It seems that creativity has been “schooled” out of us in so many different ways. The “pass/fail” method of modern education has undermined the natural instinct of curiosity, exploration, and discovery.
Naturally, we wonder about things. We ask questions, we seek answers, we experiment. And naturally, we find dead ends, things that don’t work- in other words- we fail. But what the natural process of “failure” breeds in us is more exploration, more experiments, more questions. By adding the “extrinsic” stamp of approval or disapproval by an outside source (ie. the school), we are robbed of the natural intrinsic motivation of failure.
Failure has been deemed unacceptable, something to be scolded for and so rather than experience chastisement, we simply begin a process of “towing the line.” We memorize only what they tell us to memorize. We learn what we’re told to learn and we answer questions in the way “they” would want us to. Never mind the fact that some of the most interesting discoveries have been made accidentally or with an entirely different goal in mind. The sense of adventure, creativity, and exploration is gone for fear of “failing”.
The tragedy is that this mindset does not end when we graduate. Upon university graduation, we do not suddenly take into our hands our diploma along with a renewed passion for discovery. No, instead we carry with us a fear of “what the neighbors will think”, what our boss will say, and where we “rank” in society as a whole. In other words, we continue to “tow the line.” It is this “line” that continues to lower the standard of excellence, encourages mediocrity, and limits human potential. And it is this line that we must cut in order to move forward as a creative society as well as individuals. This “line” has become a noose around our necks, suffocating creativity and ultimately breaking the spirit of discovery, not to mention “progress”.
Occasionally, I stumble across that great old quote by Thomas Edison, we’ve all heard it- “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” It is spouted off to us by the mouths of teachers and professors operating in the same system that perpetuates this grand theft of human potential- the same system that, by the way, deemed Edison “not teachable”. They were right, I suppose. He couldn’t be taught that their answers were the right answers and he could not be convinced to stop asking his own questions.
The truth is that the stamp of “failure” is a lie. Failure was never intended to be a label or a grade but simply a part of the process of learning, creating, exploring and discovering. Failure is more like “step 4” right before steps 5,6,7,and 8 where you find the answer, accomplish the goal, walk out your idea, and enrich the world! “Failure” is a natural part of life, not an identity.
Thankfully, world thinkers are beginning to question this pass/fail system that leaves the world at a loss for new ideas, progress and creativity. Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence. A visionary cultural leader, Sir Ken led the British government's 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education, a massive inquiry into the significance of creativity in the educational system and the economy, and was knighted in 2003 for his achievements. His latest book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything provides a deep look at human creativity and education. (You can listen to Sir Ken Robinson at www.TED.com. TED: IdeasWorth Spreading (Technology, Entertainment, Design) holds a conference where the world’s leading thinkers and doers gather to find inspiration.)
It is interesting that the people that think for themselves and make real progress in technology and art were often the “failures” in school. They are often declared “difficult”, “unreasonable”, or “hopeless” by the system. George Bernard Shaw said it best when he said "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. All progress, therefore, depends upon the unreasonable man."
There are many things set before us to accomplish in this life. Each of us are driven differently, each called to a unique purpose. I personally am plagued by a fear that the things I start will fail. Recently I saw things differently for just a glimpse. It seems that is how the truth works. We have brief moments where the clouds lift and the sun shines brightly on the truth, but mostly we walk in a fog trying desperately to catch those glimpses and savor them and memorize every detail in hopes that they will carry us to the next moment of truth. I saw life as a beautiful page of music being played by a master musician. Each note representing another pursuit, some of the notes were long and clear, others short and staccato, but altogether a beautiful melody. And I realized that it is only vanity that makes me want my endeavors to be whole notes, but it takes ALL the notes to make the music right and beautiful and just as it is meant to be. Renowned writer, Jean Rhys said, "Listen to me. All of writing is a huge lake. There are great rivers that feed the lake, like Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. And there are mere trickles, like Jean Rhys. All that matters is feeding the lake. I don't matter. The lake matters. You must keep feeding the lake." Be it to the world of music, dance, theatre, art, literature, or crafting; let us all contribute to the lake our “trickles” and let us not fear failure. For it seems that failure, as we fear it, is a myth. It is the monster that lives under our beds and the moment we dare to pull the covers off of our heads, hang upside down off the edge and shine our flashlights in the monsters face, all we will find is that creativity that we misplaced so very long ago.
We did not fall off the face of the planet....we simply started a grand adventure or two that have taken us away! But half a year later, the dust is settling and I find myself desperate to rejoin the blogging world. You may have noticed that our last blog was last September, well last September we put our home of nearly seventeen years on the market, it sold in the first week, we closed the last day of September and moved to a quiet little 5 acres that God Almighty set aside for us! (Truly, he did. The owner waited over a year and a half for us to be able to purchase this parcel of land just because he believed we were who the Lord wanted on the land....but that is a long story- a riveting tale of many miracles that I shall save for another day.) ANYWAY, we are now homesteaders. With a dream to homestead our own land, build an off-the-grid straw-bale house, and grow our own food- here we sit!
These last six months we have converted an awesome 1977 Blue Bird Bus, formerly the Oklahoma Highway Patrol Mobile Command Center, into a snazzy home on wheels while we set about plans to develop our land and build our new permanent home. Beavers have taken over, blocked our stream, turned what was some low lying marshy areas into a giant pond that stretches across the center of the property. We have started our first garden and things are growing! And we have had the joy of being an integral part of developing an arts publication in OKC called ArtBeat. I have been the managing editor and Shawn has been a contributing writer, working on graphics, as well as heading up distribution for the publication. Gabriel has written an album or so worth of songs and is getting to live more like the wild man he is at heart. Tessa continues to paint, paint, paint, oh yeah, and text and get online and paint some more. In spite of strange living conditions, her art continues. I think she has been the most successful, perhaps, of us all at keeping up her production of visual art. Kyrra starred in her first play, getting the opportunity to perform with an established performance company and some incredible actors, Rythmically Speaking. Lizzy has taken to the wild, is sword fighting with her brother every chance she gets and continues to study the body (in preparation for life as a surgeon) as well as study knights, and run around dressed as Frodo Baggins in her own woodland, playing Lord of the Rings. And just last night Jazlyn, Journey, Kyrra, Lizzy, Shawn and I finally befriended the pair of wild Canadian Geese that have decided to stay a while. We think they are setting on a nest and that is why they stay while the other 7 or so geese have moved on. It has been busy beyond belief and God has been good beyond measure.
Since the original objective of this blog was to encourage and inspire creativity and faith, I am going to cheat. You see, Shawn and I have both been writing alot, just not on the blog. So I am going to post some of our ArtBeat articles as blogs. If you happen to be a reader of ArtBeat, then the next several blogs may be old hat to you, but hopefully they will be a blessing to others!
And of course, we will be writing fresh encouragements :) and also keep you posted on this crazy adventure God has us on! May God pour favor and blessings on you! -Missy Hancock:)
by Gabriel Hancock
The people have lost the ability to use their voices in conversation,
To change the minds of many nations,
Where the black crustaceans slowly climb their fragile spines,
That lead to their corrupt minds that are steadily growing insane.
Constant reminders of their insignificance flash on their televisions.
Seeds of independence being plucked from their conscience by their teachers,
The confinements of the school walls slowly instilling a deep hatred for knowledge,
The word “change” is just a campaign slogan of the predicted future president,
And the broken world that they were born into will say,
“Be they president, queen, or king, bow down to them.”
MTV moved into the deepest crevice of your mind,
Slowly growing apathetic,
Losing all belief, all thought, and all life.
The biased news builds a staircase up to your eyes.
The foamy residue that they leave behind.
We live in an age of absence,
Where our songs are absent of meaning.
You pray to the American dream and forget to live in God.
Oh dead nation, let your bones grow muscle,
and let the muscle grow flesh,
and let you have tender thoughts,
and remember how you once created.
Remember the feeling of your fingers grasping the worn strings,
and let your voice sing. 
-Tessa Hancock
My name is Tessa. I am a child of the Lord. He made me and I am beautiful.
As the rain pours down upon my shoulders, He is with me.
I hear His voice in the thumping of rain against the rooftop.
I ride my bike through the rain, feeling the chilly wind flowing through
my bright green hair and knowing it is Him.
Feeling Him in every step I take, I feel free. He makes me free.
I am free in Him.
Walking down the street, and not being afraid, but knowing
He is holding my hand the whole way.
Feeling His heart beat with mine, and feeling His protection over me.
Feeling Him in the cool breeze. Feeling Him in the rain and in the thunder.
And not being afraid, but knowing He is there with me.
Knowing He is right there with the one He made for me.
Knowing He is in the heart of my friends and my family.
Seeing Him on their faces everyday.
Knowing He's there with me when I'm crying with my head on my desk.
Seeing His love and kindness on the faces of the people on the pages of my notebook.
Hearing His words whispered into my ear by my beautiful mother and knowing
they're true.
Seeing His strength and love in the face of my father and knowing He's with us.
Seeing His gentleness and kindness in the sweet faces of my sisters.
Hearing his wisdom in every strum of my brothers guitar.
Feeling his warmth and encouragement when my friends embrace me.
This is my Lord. This is what I feel when I am with Him.
He has blessed me. He has blessed me. He has made me who I am,
and I love Him.
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